The Greyest Eyes
by Sophie French
Summary: It's one thing to discover you're gay at eighteen, another one to realise you have a crush on your long-term enemy, but you can tell things are definitely going to get complicated when you accidentally say his name as your girlfriend kisses you... HP/DM. Eighth year fic.
1. An unexpected encounter

**The Greyest Eyes**

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**Disclaimer**: I am not J.K Rowling nor her publishers so unfortunately I don't own any of the characters, places, etc. I like to play with them though.

**Warnings**: I write SLASH so if you're not comfortable with m/m sexual relationships, well, you shouldn't read this. Oh, and a warning for bad language, too. Finally, as stated above, there will be loads of Romance, but also a tiny bit of Angst towards the end (although this story will have a happy ending).

**Pairings:** The main pairing is of course **Draco/Harry** but there will also be other pairings. It starts with Draco/Theo (first few chapters) and Harry/Ginny (very, very briefly, if you wink, you won't notice it was there) and then becomes Draco/Harry (yes, because, they definitely deserve to be together!) Oh, and there's Ron/Hermione as well.

**Update:** I will normally update every Monday or Tuesday.

**A/N**: A huge thanks to my lovely beta CleopatraIsMyName for her patience and precious help!

* * *

**Chapter 1- An unexpected encounter**

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"Shit!"

Harry Potter stopped dead in the middle of the corridor, the back of his left hand resting on his forehead. He fumbled quickly in his school bag, Ron and Hermione patiently waiting for him by the stairs, tenderly holding hands. Harry looked up at them. "I forgot my Potions book in my room again. You two go ahead and I'll meet you in the Great Hall in a minute." His two best friends nodded quickly and started down the stairs.

Harry hurriedly climbed the stairs back to the deserted West Tower that was now home of the returning 'eighth years', students whose education had somehow been disrupted by the war during their seventh year and who had been exceptionally allowed back to complete their studies.

It was an odd thing to be back at the castle.

It had been a little bit over four months since the downfall of Voldemort and traces of the ferocious war that had taken place there were still visible all around the castle, even though most of it had already been rebuilt. Enough anyway to welcome the students back and start the new school year.

Minerva McGonagall, the freshly appointed headmistress of Hogwarts had decided that since only a handful of students had returned for their eighth year, they would be accommodated together in the West Tower, no matter what houses they had previously belonged to. It had been weird and a little uncomfortable at first, but three weeks into the school year, it was now a pretty common occurrence to see Pansy Parkinson and the Patil sisters gossiping about the hot guys of Hogwarts, slouched on one of the couches by the fireplace or Ron enjoying a fierce game of chess with Blaise Zabini on one of the few desks scattered around the room.

Harry hastily gave the password to the Silver Knight guarding the entrance of the eighth years' common room. It was the second time this week he had been forgetting a book. Damn, he had to be more focused on his studies if he wanted to pass his NEWTs at the end of the year and eventually become an Auror!

Walking the few steps down the corridor to the common room and the flight of stairs leading to his private quarters (a most welcomed privilege for the returning eighth years), he frowned as he heard unexpected noises. It was odd since everybody was supposedly in the great hall having breakfast and he was sure he had been the last one to leave the common room earlier. He started carefully but soon froze again. Walking slowly closer, he could now distinctly hear gasping sounds mixed with giggles coming from the common room. God. There were definitely people enjoying themselves in there! Intrigued and a little uncomfortable, he held his breath and took a careful look.

Nothing could have prepared him for the shock of discovering what was happening right before his eyes.

Lying on the couch near the fireplace, completely oblivious to anything else around him, lay a very dishevelled Theodore Nott, tie loosened on his open shirt. Straddled on top, stripped to the waist and snogging the hell out of him, was none other than Nott's fellow Slytherin and Harry's former nemesis, Draco Malfoy.

Harry and Malfoy had come to a certain kind of truce after all that had happened during the war. A few days after the end of it all, Harry had gone to Malfoy Manor to return Draco's wand. They were not friends, not even close to it, but they both had come a long way and were not fighting anymore. Draco mostly kept to himself these days anyway and the two of them basically ignored each other which was perfectly fine by them.

Completely startled by what he was seeing, Harry couldn't move. He stood there, taking in the sight of the two young men intensely making out right there in front of him. He couldn't take his eyes away from the blond, fascinated by the way he seemed to be completely abandoning himself to what he was doing, guards down, cheeks flushed, like Harry had never ever seen him before. From where he stood, Harry could see the fading Dark Mark on Malfoy's left forearm and felt a thrill running down his spine.

He was snapped out of his reverie by a very angry voice coming from the couch.

"Potter! What exactly the hell you think you're doing here?" The two young men were panting heavily, staring at him like they couldn't believe he was there, Malfoy still on top of Nott's frail body.

"I... I...," Harry stammered. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find anything to say.

"Well move already! Don't you see we're in the middle of something here?" he paused, squinting his eyes. "Unless _of course_..." Malfoy had a mischievous smirk on his face, "you want to join in?"

Harry's cheeks turned deep red at the suggestion. "What? No! I... I..."

"Already said that Potter," Malfoy snapped. "Care to elaborate?" Harry heard Nott chortle next to his boyfriend. _Stupid git_.

Without thinking, Harry blurted: "Aren't you two supposed to be having breakfast?" _Oh shit_. He had not just said that? What the hell was wrong with him?

"Well", Malfoy sneered, "can't you tell this is exactly what we're doing right now?" Nott couldn't suppress a giggle. Harry could have killed the guy.

"I... Never mind." Without another word, he turned around and fled the common room, forgetting at once why he had been there in the first place and running away from the two boys as fast as he could.

Completely bewildered by what he had just witnessed, he didn't see the shock of red hair coming the other way and fell to the ground with a thud, spilling the contents of his bag on the floor. _Shit_. He mumbled an apology before realising he had run into none other than Ginny Weasley.

Great. His day couldn't have started better than this.


	2. Doomed

**Chapter 2 - Doomed**

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"Shit," Malfoy had said as soon as Potter had left the room. He felt Theo's warm fingers on his right cheek. He kissed them tenderly and looked down at the boy. "Guess the party's over now. We'd better get ready for our first lesson." He laid a small kiss on the other boy's lips and stood up, picking up his shirt and putting it back on deftly.

Something was bugging him.

It wasn't that Potter had seen him with another boy - he couldn't care less about Potter knowing he was gay after all - but rather the fact that he had been exposed in such a way, displaying his feelings like this in the open. Yeah, that. That was _really_ bothering him.

"You don't reckon he will tell anyone, do you?" Theo asked sounding a little worried. Draco pondered that for a second. "No," he said after a while, buttoning his shirt up. "He wouldn't. He would be too embarrassed by the whole thing anyway." Draco was also ready to bet the stupid Gryffindor would be far too noble to walk around and gossip about them being together. No. Potter would definitely not tell anyone about them.

They finished dressing, tying each other's ties back on in between a few more kissing sessions, and then left the room with their bags on their shoulders.

_Too bad_, thought Draco regretfully, pausing to send a last look at the couch they'd just left. _It had been such a promising beginning of the day._

* * *

Right after the war, Harry had taken time to think back on everything that had happened to him up till then: the defeat of Voldemort of course, the surrender of the last of the Death Eaters, the numerous friends he had lost and now mourned and the latest revelations that had been made regarding Snape and Dumbledore.

He had spent a huge amount of time resting and sleeping. It had felt weird having nothing to do, nothing that needed taking care of but he had been so utterly exhausted after the final battle that his body simply couldn't cope anymore. He'd had to rest. That was the reason why he had spent a few weeks over the summer at the Burrow, under the close surveillance of Molly Weasley who had insisted on him eating properly and relaxing constantly.

During those few weeks, Ginny had shown her interest in him again, wishing to rekindle the relationship they'd had before. However, Harry had insisted on taking things slow. He didn't want to rush things between them. On the surface, it looked as though he needed time to get over the events of the past few months. On the inside, Harry wasn't really sure he wanted Ginny the way she wanted him. Sure, he liked her a lot, it was nice to kiss her, but she felt more like a little sister to him now than really like a lover. Harry didn't want to lead her on, and had expressed his wish to take things slow on several occasions. Ginny had respected that and had given him space whenever he had needed some and he was very grateful for that.

The unexpected encounter with Theo Nott and Draco Malfoy a few days ago had left him thinking a lot. He turned red every time he thought about what he had seen, the passion he had witnessed between the two young men and the way he had been interrupting such an intimate moment. He had _really_ been embarrassed by Malfoy's words suggesting him to join them, and even though he had known Malfoy had only been playing with him, it had left a sense of unease in him. The git was certainly having fun with that, since every time Harry laid eyes on him now - and he tried to avoid that as much as possible - the arrogant prat smirked and winked at him looking quite pleased with himself. That made Harry blush and want to hide away every time.

On top of it all, Harry couldn't fight the strange feeling he had when thinking about Malfoy's naked chest. He was thoroughly impressed with the pale skin that had been displayed to him in such a way. He had of course seen lots of other men's bodies in the showers of the Quidditch changing rooms over the years but none of them had left him with such a feeling of... what was it... Fascination? Longing? Arousal? No, no, it couldn't be any of that of course, it was completely absurd!  
And yet, lying in his bed that night, closing his eyes, he couldn't help wondering what it would feel like to press his fingers on the delicate skin of Malfoy's chest, to caress him slowly and bring a flush of pink to that beautiful face while brushing his lips to Malfoy's own full lips...

Harry snapped back to reality and opened his eyes with a start. What the _hell_ was he doing? For Christ's sake, it was _Malfoy_ he was thinking about! A _boy_! A stupid, despising, arrogant, Slytherin prat! And an ex-Death Eater at that! Had he suddenly lost his mind? He was _not_, absolutely _not_, positively _not_... like... like _that_! He was attracted to girls! He liked girls! He liked their soft curves, their delicate features, their perfect skin and the way they smelled! He liked their gorgeous pale skin and the way their soft white hair was always so perfectly in place, and all he could think about now was how this beautiful white blond hair would feel under his fingers...

Oh God.

He was doomed.

He buried his head under his pillow and let silent tears run down his cheeks.


	3. Something wrong

**Chapter 3 - Something wrong**

* * *

Something was wrong.

Hermione could feel it. She'd been friends with Harry long enough to know when something wasn't quite right. But however hard she thought about it, she couldn't put her finger on what was going on.

And that was really annoying.

She didn't want to tell anyone. Especially not Ron. Not yet anyway. Ron was a lovely guy who wore his heart on his sleeve and would probably ask Harry what was wrong in a very straightforward manner and Hermione just _knew_ Harry would dismiss everything at once and not give any answers. No. She had to do it on her own for now.

And she would start by closely observing him.

* * *

Harry was trying very hard, but he couldn't get over the feelings that were completely overwhelming him, feelings he didn't quite understand, feelings that scared the shit out of him, feelings he never suspected he had before and feelings he _really_ didn't want to have.

He was rather good at burying them deep during the day but it was harder at night. At night, in the privacy of his room, his brain and body were driving him crazy. He felt utterly exhausted.

The problem was that he had many lessons in common with the object of his... interest. And it was pretty hard to act as if everything was perfectly normal when the other boy was so close.

Especially when the stupid git kept doing things to torment him. Like right now during Charms, when he was discreetly putting a hand on his boyfriend's thigh and bringing it slowly closer to the other boy's crotch... God. That was driving him crazy! He couldn't stop his brain from thinking what it would feel like to have Malfoy's hand on his thigh like that. And that was doing funny things to his own groin...

He shifted on his seat a little to adjust the growing arousal in his pants. God, he was in agony. And he had absolutely no one to talk to. He was feeling so scared and lonely. But nobody could help him. Not even his friends this time. Nope. His friends would completely freak out if they knew. He was on his own on this one. He sighed heavily and tried to bring his attention back to whatever Flitwick was trying to teach them.

* * *

Hermione had been looking at Harry for a moment now and had come to one conclusion: he was acting weird. To anyone else in the room, there probably didn't seem to be anything wrong with the Boy-Who-Lived but Hermione could tell. She knew him so well.

And right now she could feel he was uncomfortable. _Very_ uncomfortable. Hell, she could see it. It was written all over his face. There was a flush creeping up his neck and he was shifting uneasily on his seat. And he kept stealing glances at someone.

But not anyone.

She followed his gaze and stopped on Malfoy, sitting two rows further on next to Theo Nott. She frowned. Malfoy? What was it with Malfoy now that made her friend squirm like that? There were no more reasons now for Harry to be obsessed by Malfoy the way he had been in sixth year, when Harry kept stalking him. In the end he had been right of course. But what about now? Nobody could believe for one second that Malfoy was indulging in illicit activities anymore! No. There had to be something else. But _what_?

* * *

Harry was so hot now. He had to get out of here. Luckily for him, the lesson - and his own little torture - were coming to an end. He rushed to the door as fast as he could.  
In his haste, he didn't see Malfoy doing exactly the same.

He found himself stuck in the door with the prat.

_Oh no._

What the hell was wrong with him? He must have pissed off the gods badly! He stood frozen in place as he felt Malfoy's body so close to him.

"Move Potter! Can't you see you're in the way?" Malfoy scowled. His face was so close to him now that he could see the little specks of blue in his beautiful grey eyes. Harry stood there, fascinated. He couldn't have moved if his life had depended on it. Which was thankfully not the case.

"What the hell is wrong with you Potter?" Harry opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out. Instead he let his eyes drift down to Malfoy's sensual mouth and unconsciously licked his lips in one swift movement. God, they were so close he could feel Malfoy's warm breath on his skin, so close they could kiss... Harry shivered at the thought. Malfoy frowned and eyed him strangely, looking slightly puzzled.

A strong hand suddenly pushed him forward and snapped him out of his daze. He felt a determined Hermione urging him to move, hand firmly pressed on his back. She mouthed a quick "later!" to Ron who nodded briefly and she quickly walked Harry away. They moved swiftly and didn't stop until they'd reached an empty old Arithmancy classroom. She opened the door and gestured him inside.

Harry sat on one of the desks. Hermione checked nobody had seen them, closed the door and sat right next to him.

Harry was waiting for her to say something.

"We need to talk," she said determinedly. "I... okay." Harry started to fidget uncomfortably. She put a hand on his thigh which made him jump a little. She frowned slightly at the odd reaction and thought about what to say next.

She took a deep breath, not wanting to upset him.

"Look. I know there's something with you and I know it has to do with Malfoy." Harry froze and shut down instantly. _Shit_. She softly took his hand in hers and looked him right in the eyes. "Harry... Listen, I know this must be hard, but we're friends and friends are here to help. Please let me help you." The last few words had almost been whispered. She felt him tense as he turned his head away, in an attempt to hide the tears that were threatening to form in his eyes. She put a hand on his cheek, gently inviting him to look at her again.

He slowly regained his composure and murmured, "I... I can't tell you Hermione."

"Why not?" she softly replied.

"It's..." he sighed again. "It's just... it's just too hard right now..." the tears were back in his eyes.

"I understand," she paused and looked straight into his eyes. "But please know that I'll _always_ be there for you okay? No matter what you do, no matter what you feel, no matter what you think you are or who you think you are. _Always_ Harry."

He nodded quietly. She gently took him in her arms and held him close. He put his head on her shoulder, feeling slightly better.

Perhaps he didn't have to go through it all on his own after all.

* * *

Harry was standing by the lake. It was a beautiful day and the sun was very bright in the sky. He was looking at the trees beyond the lake, when he felt two arms wrapping him from behind, bringing him close. He smiled and closed his eyes. A soft mouth started pressing gentle kisses on his neck and he shivered. He opened his eyes and slowly turned around, sending his arms around the blond's neck, abandoning himself in his embrace. Draco gently smiled at him, his gaze intense. Their mouths came closer. Their lips slowly brushed together and soon they were kissing passionately. The blond's hands were all over his body, touching him where he had never been touched by anyone before. Draco slowly started to open Harry's trousers under his robes, his hand soon crawling under the fabric of his boxers as his mouth was hungrily assaulting Harry's neck again. Harry threw his head back and moaned loudly when he felt experienced fingers encircling his hardness-

He woke up with a start in his bed, panting heavily, an uncomfortable sensation in his crotch area. _Shit_.

Another wet dream.

Again.

It had been the third time this week. And every single time he had been dreaming about the blond.

Harry had voluntarily been ignoring his _needs_ all of this week, not touching himself at all, which was quite a challenge when you were eighteen, because he _knew_ it would take him to places he refused to go. The problem was, as he could see right now, his mind wouldn't let his body leave him alone anyway.

He sighed heavily, sat in his bed and grabbed his wand on the nightstand. He quickly cast a cleaning charm on himself and leaned back on his pillows.

It had to stop. He had to do something about this... this _problem_. But he was so confused... He didn't want to be like that! Once again, he felt tears forming in his eyes. Shit. He seemed to be crying a fricking lot lately.

Why couldn't he be like anyone? Why couldn't he be like Ron, or Seamus or any of those guys? Why couldn't he just find a nice girl, like Ginny, fall in love with her, marry her, have kids and live happily ever after?

Wait a minute.

He could. It was easy. Hell, he'd already done it before!

Ginny was a lovely girl and he liked her very much. He could spend more time with her and forget all the disturbing thoughts he'd had lately...

That was it! He could still make things right! He would go back to Ginny and everything would be as it used to!

Dead simple. Why hadn't he thought about that before?

Feeling much better than he'd been in days, he fell asleep almost instantly, a smile on his face.

* * *

He woke up feeling great. He took a quick shower, once again completely ignoring his throbbing erection and went down to have breakfast with his friends. After the thinking he'd been doing at night, he felt so good and oh so relieved!

He sat down next to Ginny and joined the conversations. Ron and Seamus were having a passionate debate about the Chudley Canons' new keeper ("Definitely NOT as good as Primus last year! The guy couldn't save a goal if his life depended on it!") while Hermione and Ginny were talking about the changes in the library after it had been renovated ("Much more cosy and much better organised.")

God it was good to have normal conversations again and not be distracted by inappropriate thoughts! He had been agonising over his unwanted desires those last few days but hopefully it was all in the past. He could now focus entirely on his future, and his future was the beautiful girl next to him. He gently took her hand and smiled at her.

He moved closer to her and softly murmured in her ear, "Would you like to meet me this afternoon by the lake?"

Ginny seemed a bit surprised but replied with a smile, "I'd love to."

He kissed her hand. See? No problem. He could do that, it wasn't so hard! He saw Hermione frown at the tender gesture but she said nothing. He went back to discussing the latest exploits of the Chudley Canons with Ron and Seamus, remaining close to the red-haired girl.

As Ginny was talking to him, he couldn't help throwing a glance at the table at the other end of the room and caught a certain blond Slytherin staring at him intensely. He quickly looked at Ginny again and tried to focus his attention back to whatever it was she was telling him.

* * *

Draco was utterly confused by Potter's behaviour lately. Like what had happened in Charms the other day. Potter had had a strange look about him that had made him uncomfortable. It wasn't the way they dealt with one another usually and for some reason, he couldn't stop thinking about it. There was something that he couldn't quite understand about it all, something that didn't fit, but he couldn't exactly put a finger on it.

He was sent back to reality by Theo's warm hand on his thigh. It was nice being with the boy. He was pretty and they had good fun together in bed. True enough, their relationship was mostly physical and Draco knew there wasn't much beyond that but it was pleasant and a good distraction from the crazy amount of work they were given and the constant pressure of the upcoming NEWTs.

Draco's eyes drifted again as he watched Potter once more. He frowned as he saw the stupid Weaselette giggling dumbly at whatever he was telling her and looking at Potter with googly eyes. What the hell was Potter doing with her? He saw nothing remotely attractive in her. And it wasn't because he was gay. He knew a pretty girl when he saw one and the Weaselette wasn't even remotely appealing. And Potter was definitely out of her league.

He finished his breakfast lost in his thoughts and left the Great Hall followed by his friends.

* * *

Harry was standing by the lake, waiting for Ginny. On the whole it had been a good day. He'd managed to go through it without thinking too much about the blond prat.

Everything was going to be fine from now on, he knew it.

He felt two arms wrapping him from behind and winced at the sensation of _déjà-vu_. He turned around and placed a chaste kiss on Ginny's lips. It felt kind of odd and he couldn't help thinking about the kiss he'd shared with Malfoy in his dream. Of course it had been a dream and dreams always felt different from real life. In dreams, the sensations were enhanced and things always looked much better than reality. So much better than in reality. Hey, that was why they were called dreams after all.

"Harry, is everything alright?" he blinked as he realised he had been daydreaming again.

"Yes, of course! Everything's fine!" he leaned in to kiss Ginny again but she stopped him by pressing a finger on his lips.

"So, have you been doing some thinking? About us I mean?" she inquired.

"Yes, I have. And... And what we had before the war was good Ginny, and I want that back. I want to be with you," Harry said in a breath.

She looked deep in his eyes, searching for evidence of what he was saying.

She must have found something since she came closer, pressed her body flush against Harry's and kissed him full on the lips. He closed his eyes and let the sensations flood him. "God I've missed you!" she murmured in his ear, breaking the kiss. She started trailing gentle kisses on his face, along his jawline and down his neck, her hands resting on the small of his back. Harry's mind started drifting away and he was soon completely lost in the moment. He was enjoying the light kisses of the blond now, feeling the soft touch of his hands all over him. He threw his head back and whispered, "Ummm... So good _Draco_..."

"_What?_" Ginny said shoving him hard.

Harry violently came back to reality and opened his eyes, the weight of what he'd just said slowly dawning on him.

Ginny took a step back but was so shocked that she couldn't say a word. She was gaping at him, eyes wide open and slowly put a hand on her mouth.

Harry stepped forward. "_Fuck_, oh _fuck_ Gin, I'm... I'm so... so sorry, I... was... _Shit_... I..." Unable to form a coherent sentence, he turned away and ran back to the castle as fast as he could, tears ragingly running down his face, blurring his vision, all the while wishing he were dead.


	4. Getting there

**Chapter 4 - Getting there**

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**A/N:** Thank you very much for your reviews, they are really appreciated!

* * *

The West Tower common room was pretty crowded on the late afternoon of this mid-October day. The days were rapidly getting shorter and the soft light from outside was filtering through the numerous windows, giving the place a warm and cosy feel. It was a nice room, especially with the fireplace, and the eighth year students really enjoyed spending their free time there, away from the turmoil of the castle and the younger students.

Dean and Neville were slouched on one of the sofas near the fireplace, trying to finish their Transfigurations essay but failing remarkably. Seamus was sitting next to them on the floor, leaning on the very same sofa, looking very bored and yawning constantly, a piece of parchment in his hand.

Giggles kept coming from the fireplace where Pansy Parkinson, the Patil sisters and Hannah Abbott were playing a card game. Theodore Nott, always the quiet one, was reading in a corner of the room and stealing glances to the lean blond who was deep in conversation with Blaise at the other end of the room.

Deeply focused on a large book sitting on the desk in front of her, surrounded by half a dozen parchments, Hermione was furiously taking notes while Ron was sitting across the desk from her, quill in his hand, his mind wandering leisurely, eyes on the ceiling.

They jumped all at once as they heard a clearly pissed off someone shouting the password at the portrait of the Silver Knight - who by the way, didn't appreciate being treated that way _at all _and dryly pointed it out - and saw a very upset Harry Potter storming through the common room without a glance at anyone and soon disappearing up the stairs leading to his bedroom.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other in bewilderment before hastily leaving their desk to run after Harry.

The others stared for a while and then quietly went back to whatever they were doing before. Seamus and Neville briefly pondered following them but decided against it since Hermione and Ron were already up there with their friend.

* * *

Harry didn't stop once. He ran all the way up to his private quarters, not even bothering to look back. He burst into his room and hurriedly locked the door before collapsing on his bed. He pulled himself in a foetal position and closed his eyes tight.

God he was fucked! Nobody would ever talk to him again after that and he couldn't even blame them!

And Ron... Ron was going to kill him!

He heard a soft knock. Hermione's muffled voice called his name from behind the door. He didn't want to talk to her. He didn't want to talk to any of them. He just wanted to lie here and die alone. Which would inevitably happen as soon as everybody would know what he'd done.

"Harry, please let us in!" Hermione was pleading. "Talk to me!"

"Yeah Harry, come on mate, open the fricking door!" Ron echoed, desperately pressing the handle many times without effect.

"Just... Go away! Leave me alone!" Harry managed to say.

"Come on Harry! Remember what I told you the other day! We're here to help!" Hermione said desperately.

There was a pause and then Harry heard them arguing faintly about something behind the door. He threw a pillow on his head in a feeble attempt to block any sound coming from outside.

God, he was utterly, thoroughly fucked.

* * *

"There's no use!" Ron leaned heavily on the locked door. "He won't open to us. Hell, he won't open to anyone. I'm sure he wouldn't even let us in if the Minister asked him to."

Hermione looked at him with a weird expression on her face. "What did you just say?"

"Er, the bit about the Minister?" he answered scratching his head, slightly puzzled.

"But Ron, that's brilliant!"

He frowned. "Are you making fun of me? Cause this is neither the place nor the time..."

"Ron," Hermione started cautiously. "I think I... Ok, this is going to sound crazy to you but I think... I think it could work! If only..."

"What?" Ron interrupted. "What could?"

"I think... I think I can find someone to talk to him. Someone who could reach him, someone he might even let in..."

Ron squinted his eyes. "And that would be...?"

"Malfoy," she blurted. She didn't know why, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her.

"_What? _Are you out of your mind? Why would _Malfoy_ of all people manage to get to him? And that's imagining the selfish bastard would accept doing something for us, hell, something for Harry!"

"Look," she said gently putting a calming hand on his arm. "I know it sounds crazy but I think it could work. What else can we do anyway? He won't open the door to us!"

Ron seemed to ponder that. "But how on earth are you going to bring Malfoy, of all people, to come up here?"

She sighed. "I don't know. But I think it's worth giving it a shot."

He looked at her for a moment and said, "Fine. Do it. Go and fetch the guy. I'll stay here just in case," he paused and addressed the door. "Mate, you have no idea what you're making us do. You'll owe us big time once everything is sorted out!"

* * *

"Malfoy, can I have a word with you?" Hermione had lost no time, going straight to the blond, putting aside the perplexed looks on her friends' faces. "Please?" she added. No need to antagonise the prat unnecessarily.

Malfoy slowly looked at Blaise, who shrugged at him helplessly. He brought his attention back to Hermione, considering her for a moment. "And why would I do that?" he finally replied.

Hermione tried to remain calm. _You're doing this for Harry_, she reminded herself. "Well, because I'm asking nicely."

He sneered. "And since when you asking me something nicely makes me want to do it Granger?" Blaise couldn't repress a smile. She eyed him furiously. _Breathe_, Hermione, _breathe_.

She studied Draco for a moment and then hissed. "Never mind. Drop it," she said coolly. "I knew it wasn't any use asking _you_ of all people. Guess we'll have to find another way to get to Harry," she added sheepishly to herself and started walking away.

"Wait a minute," Malfoy stood up. "You need _me_ to get to Potter?" he asked bewildered.

"Malfoy," Hermione lowered her voice and looked nervously around. "Not here," she started for the stairs leading to Harry's bedroom. Malfoy didn't move. "Come on!" she gestured him to follow her. He looked undecided for a moment and then sighed. "Fine. I'm coming."  
Hermione turned around and hurriedly climbed the stairs, a victorious smile on her face.

* * *

"Hermione! You did it!" Ron whispered in her ear, softly kissing her cheek. "Always the tone of surprise," she answered with a wink. He was beaming at her.

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt this utterly touching scene but are you finally going to tell me what the hell is going on here?" Malfoy asked impatiently. "I'm a pretty busy guy and I have stuff to do," he scowled.

"Right," Hermione started, ignoring the annoyed look on her boyfriend's face.

"As you witnessed first-hand earlier, Harry looked pretty upset when he crossed the common room and he won't let us in. We thought... We thought that maybe he would let _you_ in."

"Me? Are you out of your mind Granger? Why would he talk to _me_ when he won't even let you?"

"There, I told you!" said Ron triumphantly. "My point exactly!"

Hermione gave him a dark look and reported her attention back to Malfoy.

She sighed heavily. "I don't know... he doesn't seem to be himself lately and I thought... Anyway, I thought maybe, for one reason, he'd let you in," she paused and looked at them. "But we can choose to argue about it for hours on or we could at least try it and see how it goes, right?"

Malfoy seemed to ponder that for a moment and finally sighed. "Alright, I'll do it," Ron and Hermione cheered inwardly.

* * *

Harry was exhausted. He felt like all the energy he might have had before had left his body. He wasn't crying anymore but he was still a mess.

This morning he thought he had it all figured out and tonight... Well tonight his whole world had fallen apart.

He was brought back to the present by a very familiar voice.

"Potter! Open the door!"

_Malfoy?_

What the hell was _Malfoy_ doing at his door? Was it a trick of his imagination?

"Potter?" Malfoy paused. "Potter, look, I don't have the whole night so would you please open the goddamn door?"

Please? _Please? _In seven years, Harry had _never_ heard the prat plead once.

He heard his friends talking in animated voices to the blond. After a while, the familiar voice was back at the door.

"Oh come on Potter! Stop being such a drama queen and open the fricking door!"

Harry was thinking hard. Then, on an impulse, he jumped out of bed and slowly unlocked the door.

His friends were staring at him like they couldn't believe he was real. Malfoy, nodding slightly to Hermione, walked in through the door.

Harry looked at his two best friends for a second before gently closing the door and locking it again, turning around to face the blond menace who was now in his room.

* * *

"My God, Potter, your room is a mess! I too would be very upset if I had to live in such a repulsing place!"

Potter's room was indeed poorly kept. Clothes were scattered all over the room and the floor, the chair and the small desk by the window were covered in them. The desk was also littered with parchments and quills. There was no way anyone could work on that.

Potter was still standing by the door. Draco sat on the end of the four poster bed and eyed him carefully.

"So, I've been asked to come and talk to you," he clasped his hands together. "Here I am! What do you want to talk about?"

"I... I never asked for anything. You're free to leave if you want to, Malfoy," Potter said moodily.

Draco squinted his eyes and slowly said, "Yeah, right. Well I don't think that is going to be possible. You see, if I leave right now, without having at least tried to talk to you, Granger and the Weasel will hex the crap out of me. And I'd sincerely like to avoid that. You see, surprisingly, I am not into pain that much."

Potter hid his face in his hands and exhaled heavily. "I... I can't do this... It's just... too hard."

Draco stood at once and came closer. "What the hell is wrong with you Potter? You defeated the greatest Dark Wizard of all times and here you are, hiding in your room and crying like a little girl!"

Potter slowly removed his hands from his face and looked at him angrily. "Fuck you Malfoy," he seethed.

"Well... Would you rather not talk before?" Draco replied with a smirk.

"What?" Potter muttered, confused. Then he blushed furiously as he caught Draco's innuendo. He gaped for a second and then started shaking badly, looking furious. Draco took a step back to the bed.

"Why do you keep doing that?" the dark-haired boy blurted, coming dangerously closer and pointing an accusing finger at Draco. "Why do you keep torturing me like that? What the hell is wrong with you, Malfoy?"

Draco felt the back of his legs hit the foot of the bed and he fell heavily on it, taken aback by the other boy's reaction. Then, to his surprise, Potter suddenly calmed down and muttered. "Shit. I... I can't. I give up."

He sat on the other end of the bed, next to his nightstand, hiding his head in his hands again.

Draco quickly regained composure. "Oh come on, Potter! These are just words! I'm just playing! You should try it some-"

_Oh._

Draco sat up with a start, completely baffled as it finally all fell into place. Potter's weird behaviour around him lately, the strange feeling that had been nagging him for days... That was it! It all made sense now!

Draco slowly stood up, walked silently and sat next to him. He gently removed the boy's hands from his face. Looking in the deep green eyes, he softly asked, "Potter... are you gay?"

Silent tears suddenly ran on Potter's face as he slowly looked away and nodded. "I... I think I might be..."

"But... what about..." Draco frowned. "I saw you this morning with the... hum, girl Weasley. You seemed pretty cosy together."

"Oh God... Ginny... I did something terrible to her," Potter said in a breath, hiding his face in his hands once more.

Draco eyed him suspiciously. "What. You killed her and buried her in the Forbidden Forest or something?"

Potter lowered his hands again slowly and murmured hesitantly. "Worse. I called someone else's name when she was kissing me."

Draco settled back on his hands. "Ouch. That must have hurt," he paused. "Let me guess... it was a boy's name?"

Potter looked intensely at Draco, a strange look on his face, and nodded slowly.

"Well, at least now she'll leave you alone! One Weasel down, but plenty others left!" Draco added with a wink. "And now I suppose you could do the brother."

Potter looked at him with a funny look. "Ron? Ewww!"

"Yeah, my thought exactly," replied Draco, an expression of disgust on his face.

Potter exclaimed. "No! I mean, I like Ron very much but not, like _that_!"

"Right. Whatever," Draco replied with a dismissing gesture.

They kept silent for a moment and then Draco said "well, I sure wouldn't have bet on you. Longbottom maybe, but you... nope. Not in a million years."

Potter looked at him incredulously. "Neville is not gay," he chuckled.

"Really? You're sure about that?" Draco was genuinely surprised. "You should see the way he looks at me! I know I'm devastatingly handsome but it's kind of embarrassing sometimes."

Potter chortled. "He looks at you because he's scared of you. He's terrified you're going to hex him first chance you get."

Draco pondered that for a second and said "Well, I can hardly deny I've been tempted many times. I might even have indulged in it once or twice. Can't help it if the guy has terrible taste in clothes. It hurts my sensibility every time."

Harry laughed heartily. "You're a git," he said after a while. "Yep. Been told many times. At some point I even thought it was my middle name," Draco paused, looking at Potter again. "Feeling better?" Potter exhaled heavily. "Yeah. I think so." Draco stood up. "Good. I think I should leave you to your friends then." Harry nodded.

Draco started walking to the door. "Are you going to tell anyone?" Potter asked. Draco held off for a second, facing the door. "No," he answered quietly.

He then turned around, wanting to add something but changed his mind and went for the doorknob instead. "Malfoy?" Draco turned again to look at him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome Potter." The blond opened the door and left the room.

The Weasel looked at him suspiciously for a second and went hastily for Potter. Granger mouthed a quiet "thank you" to him before walking in and closing Potter's bedroom door behind her.

Hell, two 'thank yous' in less than five minutes? That was more than Draco usually had in a whole year!


	5. Friends

**Chapter 5 - Friends**

* * *

**A/N:** This is the edited version of chapter 5. I had to tone down the original chapter to fit the M rating of Fanfiction. If you're over 18 and wish to see the whole unedited version of this chapter as it was originally written, please see links in my profile!

* * *

Ron and Hermione sat on the bed on either side of Harry.

"Are you okay?" Hermione inquired.

"Yes, I'm fine," Harry said. "I have to go and talk to Ginny though."

"Something happened between the two of you?" Ron asked.

Harry looked at them both. "Well, yes. That's why I have to go and find her. But I just can't talk about it right now."

"Ok, we understand. Go Harry," Hermione said.

Ron wouldn't let it go so easily. "Wait, Harry. That thing that happened between you two... it's nothing too bad, right?"

"No, I promise. But I really need to go and talk to her now. I'll catch you later."

He stood up and looked at them both. "Thank you guys. For everything."

"You're very welcome Harry. Now go!" Hermione pressed him.

He quickly left the room and went down the stairs.

Ron turned to Hermione and kissed her softly on the mouth.

She smiled. "What was that for, Ronald Weasley?"

"You're just... perfect. I love you," he kissed her again. "You've managed to find a way to get to him. I don't know what Malfoy has told him, but it certainly seemed to help Harry. You're brilliant," he was beaming at her. "I'm so lucky to have you."

She blushed. "And me you." She gently stroked his cheek. "And I'm happy Harry is feeling better," she paused. "Even if I'm sure he still has a long way to go."

"Yeah. I wish he would tell us. It's hard not to know what's bugging him like that."

"Yes..." she said thoughtfully. "Well, he will. At one point." She put her hand on his. "Until then, we need to be here for him and show him we love him."

"Right." Ron paused, scanning the room. "I was thinking. Since we're here..."

She interrupted him. "Ronald Weasley! We will NOT do naughty things in Harry's bedroom! Come on!" she said laughing. She stood and took his hand.

Ron threw a last glance at the room. "Too bad..."

* * *

Harry was walking at a good pace in the corridors of Hogwarts. He first went to Gryffindor Tower and asked a couple of girls exiting the common room that had been his home for many years if Ginny was inside but she wasn't. He also checked the library and the courtyard but she wasn't there either. He probably could have taken the Marauders' Map with him, but in the spur of the moment, he had simply forgotten about it.

He finally found Ginny where he had left her half an hour ago. She was sitting by the lake, chin resting on her knees. She still had tears in her eyes.

He quietly came closer to her and stood right behind her, looking for something to say.

She was the first to talk.

"I'd always imagined," she started, staring at the lake in front of her, "from the very first day I met you, that we would spend our lives together. It was so obvious to me that I never considered anyone else." She sighed and stood up, turning to face him. "Funny how one can be wrong sometimes."

"Ginny... I am so, so sorry," Harry said unhappily.

"You are, aren't you?" she was looking at him like she'd never seen him before, like she was discovering him completely.

She gently removed a strand of hair from his eyes.

He couldn't find anything to say.

Ginny turned to face the lake again, their shoulders touching lightly.

"So, it's really over, isn't it?" she said in a soft murmur. "You really are... " she swallowed hard, "...gay then?"

"Yes, well, it looks like it." It was the second time tonight Harry had acknowledged it out loud. It was a weird sensation, but it felt oddly relieving at the same time.

"How long Harry?" she turned slightly to look at him. "How long have you known?"

He exhaled sharply. "A few days, I swear Ginny. I had no idea until then. I just... it's all so new to me, I can't... I can't figure out everything yet but... I'm working on it."

"But what about this morning? And this afternoon? You kissed me!" she blurted.

Her face was closer to his now. "I... I know," Harry stammered, slightly pulling back. "But I was sincerely convinced it could work between us. I never meant to lead you on, Ginny, I swear."

She considered him for a second. "I believe you, Harry." They stared at the lake in silence for a few minutes, both lost in their thoughts.

After a while, she motioned to stand right in front of him, her back to the lake again.

"So. _Malfoy?_" she said with a disgusted look on her face.

Harry blushed hard. "I... I'd rather not talk about that Ginny, please."

"Well, you called his name while I was kissing you so I guess you at least owe me an explanation, don't you think?"

He thought about that for a second. "Right. I guess you're right. I do owe you an explanation." He took a deep breath. "I might have some... feelings for him."

"Yeah, I think I noticed that." She smiled feebly. "But I'm sorry Harry, I just don't get it. _Malfoy_, Harry? The stupid, arrogant, ex-Death Eater bastard who's been insulting and hurting you for years and whose father has tried to kill me in my first year? Really Harry? You're seriously telling me you might have feelings for _that_ guy?" she was staring at him in utter disbelief.

"Look. I know all that. You think I don't know all that?" he asked her incredulously. "But I also know there's probably more to him than we think." He gently stroked her cheek. "And anyway Ginny, as crazy as it seems, it's unfortunately not something I have any control on." He took her hands in his. "Honestly? If I could _really_ choose, I would go for you in a heartbeat, because you're a lovely, beautiful, smart girl, Ginny, and my life would be so much easier if I chose you!" he paused. "But that's not the way it works. I unfortunately don't get to choose who I'm attracted to, no one does," Harry said, looking sorry.

She closed her eyes, fighting back tears. "Please stop Harry. It hurts too much."

"God I'm so sorry, Ginny, I never meant to hurt you." He took her in his arms and held her tight. She put her cheek on his shoulder, her nose in his neck.

They stayed like that for a while, Harry cradling her in his arms. She suddenly seemed to realise something and looked up at him. "Do you at least know if he is gay, Harry?"

He looked down at her. "Yes. He is. He even has a boyfriend." _Shit_. He had forgotten about that detail.

She sighed heavily. "Well, I hope you find what you're looking for," she paused, her cheek back on Harry's shoulder. "And I sincerely hope you'll be happy. Even if it has to be with Draco _bloody_ Malfoy. You deserve it, Harry."

He pulled back a little and looked at her in awe. "God, I'm so blessed to have you as a friend!" He kissed her lightly on her cheek. "Thank you Ginny."

She smiled at him again. "You're welcome Harry." She closed her eyes and sighed heavily. "I'm sorry Harry, but I'm going to need time to get over you," she whispered.

"I know, that's alright. Take all the time you need," he replied softly, putting a light kiss on her forehead.

Ginny shivered slightly. Harry said, "It's getting cold, Ginny, let's go back to the castle." He took her hand and led her away from the lake. "Oh, and Ginny?" he paused. "Could you please not tell any of this to anyone? Especially not Ron and Hermione? They don't know yet and I'd like to tell them myself."

"Of course, Harry. I won't tell anyone, I promise."

They walked back to the castle lost in thoughts.

* * *

Harry walked Ginny back to Gryffindor Tower and headed for the West Tower, trying to gather his thoughts.

Ginny truly was an amazing girl. He'd always admired her strength and marvelled at how confident a young woman she had become over the years. He felt all the more miserable not to be able to be with her like she wanted him to. He sincerely hoped she would find someone who would love her like she deserved to be loved.

He hurried back to the West Tower. He wanted to catch Ron and Hermione before dinner. He felt so grateful for them! They didn't know anything about his internal turmoil and yet, they would move heaven and earth to ensure his well-being.

Harry entered the common room. Most of the eighth years had now deserted it, preparing themselves for dinner. Ron and Hermione were still there though, probably waiting for Harry to come back, snuggled on one of the sofas near the fireplace, speaking amorously to one another and kissing tenderly, their fingers entwined. They were turning their backs to Harry and couldn't see him. Harry took in the sight of his two best friends, an unexpected warmth forming in his chest as he was witnessing all the love that was radiating from them. God he wished he could have something like that one day!

He cleared his throat and Ron and Hermione turned around at once.

"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione, standing from the sofa and throwing her arms around his neck. "Are you okay? Did you manage to find Ginny?" she asked, looking concerned. Ron had joined them near the entrance of the common room.

"Yes, I did." He turned to Ron. "And I must say your sister truly is an amazing person, Ron."

"Well, what can I say? It runs in the family!" Ron joked.

"It certainly does," Harry replied with a smile.

"So, are you and Ginny back together then?" Ron wanted to know.

Harry took a deep breath and answered honestly. "No. Ginny is a wonderful, lovely, smart girl but we won't be back together. Ever." He looked at them both.

Ron frowned. "I don't get it, mate. Why wouldn't you two be back together if she's... whatever you say she is?"

Harry looked at his feet and replied shyly. "Well, it's just... Ginny and I, it's just not meant to be. And please don't ask me more about all that because I can't really give you answers at the moment, okay?" he added.

"Right, Harry, that's fine." Hermione discreetly put a hand on her boyfriend's in an attempt to silence him. "We trust you. I'm just glad Ginny and you could still remain friends even if you can't be together as a couple," Hermione said.

Harry looked at them both. "God, I'm so lucky to have the two of you!" he blurted. "Thank you for being here for me." He hugged them hard.

"Everything's alright then? Ron said, breaking the embrace. "Cause I'm bloody starving here!" Harry and Hermione laughed heartily. _Some things never change_, thought Harry warmly as they left the common room arm in arm, like in the good old days.

* * *

Right after dinner, Draco was lying on Theo's bed, shirt undone and trousers open. The frail boy was running his hands all over Draco's chest and occasionally teasing his nipples with his tongue.

Draco was staring at the ceiling, thinking about what Potter had told him earlier on. He had been truly surprised to learn that Potter was gay. It had never crossed his mind before, and he had been watching the boy for years. To his credit, Potter himself seemed not to have been aware of it until very recently. Draco marvelled at the fact that it had been the first time the two of them had had a conversation that had not been tainted with threats or anger. And it had felt pretty nice.

Draco swiftly put his left hand on Theo's head and ordered him. "Lower."

Theo obliged immediately. Draco closed his eyes as the boy pushed his trousers and boxers down. "Ummm... that's it." He kept his fingers in Theo's hair, slightly panting.

Potter was a funny guy. True, he was annoying as hell, but Draco had always been kind of fascinated by him. Most of the time, he was fearless and headstrong. But what Draco had seen yesterday had been pretty different from what he was used to see. He had discovered Potter could be vulnerable, scared even. And that had been quite a revelation.

Draco lifted his head from the pillow and looked at the boy who was working on him. Hell, it wasn't perfect but he couldn't deny the boy was devoted to the task at hand... well, so to speak, considering what he was currently doing.

He closed his eyes once again and his mind started slowly drifting away. Pictures of a dark-haired boy with green eyes started popping up on his mind and were soon messing up with the sensations that were coming from down there. Draco let out a low moan as his mind started picturing an aroused Potter going down on him. Realising what he was doing, he opened his eyes with a start, in a desperate attempt to block those stupid images. What the hell was he doing? He certainly couldn't think of Potter in that way! True, knowing that Potter was gay had opened completely new horizons to him but Potter was good to mock, insult or fight, not... do dirty things with!

Unfortunately, a part of him didn't seem to agree with that and that part was making him unconsciously push his hips forwards. As he was closing his eyes again, he tried to focus on what Theo was doing to him. But once more, pictures of the annoying so-called hero invaded his mind. Shit. Why Potter? He wasn't even remotely attractive, was he? Ok, he was kind of cute, and had a rather nice smile, and his arse looked quite firm and touchable, not to mention the hard muscles of his chest or the perfectly flat stomach Draco had felt under his hands when Potter had rescued him on his broom in the Room of Requirement! But that didn't mean anyone could imagine doing things with the guy! Because that would be gross, right? It was resolutely and utterly wrong, wasn't it? Yeah, it was disgusting! And at the same time... well fuck it, Draco couldn't help finding the whole idea incredibly arousing...

Fuck. It was hopeless to try to prevent his mind from getting where it was heading. He let out a whimper of rage and frustration. He was now too far gone to be able to stop himself from having inappropriate thoughts about the Saviour-of-the-Wizarding-World at this point anymore. And Draco realised with great horror that he wasn't really doing his best to stop himself from having those thoughts and that instead, his body was responding to them desperately.

He tried once more to resist the disturbing pictures assaulting him for the sake of telling himself he had tried. But however hard he tried, he couldn't help them. He let out another loud moan as the picture of the messy-haired boy going down on him was now definitely stuck in his head. Between what the other boy was doing to him and where Draco's imagination was taking him, he couldn't hold out anymore. To make matters worse, a stupid little voice inside his head was nagging him. _Stop denying yourself,_ it said. _You've wanted him for years... all that rage and anger... pitiful attempts... to hide... your frustration... at not getting... what you _really_ wanted..._

It was the end of the battle. Draco decided to let it all go at once. As soon as he'd made up his mind, he was flooded with a multitude of sensations coming both from what Theo was doing to him and the pictures of a dishevelled, half-naked Potter doing the same thing to him. He reached his climax with a loud strangled cry, the picture of Potter never leaving his mind.


	6. In deep

**Chapter 6 - In deep**

* * *

**A/N: **This is the edited version of chapter 6. I had to tone down the original chapter to fit the M rating of Fanfiction. If you are over 18 and wish to see the whole unedited version of this chapter as it was originally written, please see links in my profile!

* * *

Theo was lying on his bed, resting after another intense session of love-making with the man he had desperately fallen in love with. Those last few days, their encounters had increased in intensity, Draco showing more passion during sex than ever before. The boy was certainly not complaining about that even if on the other hand, Draco seemed to be growing a little distant afterwards. Theo thought that maybe the blond was starting to have stronger feelings for him and that it was something that scared him in a way. Even if imagining Draco being scared of something like that was probably a bit far-fetched. Theo still couldn't suppress a smile when he thought about how lucky he was to be with Draco Malfoy.

He'd never thought he would fall for him like that. They'd known each other for years of course but had never been close before. Draco had always been the leader of Slytherin House, headstrong and proud, never letting anyone come in his way. Theo, on the other hand, had always been the loner, keeping to himself, never really being part of one gang or another.

It had all changed over the summer when Theo had visited Draco in Malfoy Manor. He'd been completely lost when his father had disappeared after the war and Madam Malfoy had suggested he stayed for a while with them. Draco and him had taken time to discuss about all that had happened to their families, and particularly the events of the last few weeks. Those shared experiences had brought the two boys closer and had developed into the relationship they were in now.

He could hear Draco showering in his bathroom. He was always a bit disappointed by the fact that Draco never wanted to stay with him after they'd had sex. That part was great, sure, even more than great, but Theo wanted more. He wanted Draco all to himself. He wanted to spend time with him, to get to know him more and more. They'd been together for over three months now but Theo realised that he didn't know much about the blond. The whole thing seemed to be very casual to him. And casual wasn't enough for Theo anymore.

Draco came out of the bathroom, a towel hanging loosely on his hips. With his hair still dripping wet, he was incredibly hot and Theo couldn't help admiring his boyfriend's body.

The blond dressed up in silence, not even glancing once at him.

"I was thinking," Theo started, "that maybe tomorrow we could go to your room for a change?"

Draco was buttoning his shirt up. "You know pretty well this is not going to happen, Theo," he scowled. His shirt done, he sat on the bed next to the boy, lacing his shoes.

"But why not?" Theo insisted, raising himself up on his elbows. "I've never been to your room, and I'd like to see what it looks like! It would only be fair since you always come here!"

"I've already told you about that Theo. Nobody ever comes to my room, not even you. Now drop it, will you?" Draco said dryly.

Theo rearranged the pillow under his head and said nothing more.

Draco quickly placed a kiss on Theo's forehead and exited the room without another word.

Theo sighed heavily, and headed for the shower.

* * *

Harry was feeling much better. He still had moments of angst and doubt and he was not completely comfortable with the whole 'being gay' thing yet but he was getting there. He had been doing a lot of thinking those last few days, allowing his mind to wander to places he'd never thought it would go. He now willingly let it imagine what it would feel like to be kissing another boy and running his hands all over a body similar to his. His own body had been responding pretty well to all this thinking too.

Ginny and Draco had kept their word and apparently not told anyone, for which Harry felt really grateful. They had not interacted much those last few days though, all being pretty busy with their schoolwork. Of course, Harry was seeing Draco every day but tried very hard not to let his feelings for the blond overtake the whole of his thoughts. Harry knew Draco had a boyfriend and he didn't want to come between the two of them.

_Draco_. Harry smiled. Since when had he stopped being _Malfoy_ to him? Probably when he's had the confirmation, in his bedroom the other day, that the boy was somewhat more complex and interesting than what he let the rest of the world see. _Draco_. Harry enunciated the two syllables out loud a few times. They felt nice in his mouth. He realised with a grin that he could easily get used to saying that name.

Anyway, on that surprisingly warm Friday night of late October, he was lying on his bed, holding the Marauders' Map in his hands. He'd been doing that quite a lot lately, looking for Draco at night. It felt like sixth year all over again. Although the boy wasn't going to the Room of Requirement anymore, but rather seemed to be spending an awful lot of time in Nott's bedroom, which wasn't quite a surprise in itself but still kind of hurt Harry a bit. He couldn't stop imagining what the two of them were doing there and wondered what it would be like to spend time alone in a room with the blond.

If Draco spent a lot of time in his boyfriend's bedroom, he never went straight back to his own place afterwards though. Instead, he left the West Tower and headed to the Astronomy Tower where he stayed on his own for a while. Harry had been pretty surprised to find out about it the first time, after all that had happened there months ago. What could he be doing up there? It was really bugging him.

On an impulse, he got up and put his Invisibility Cloak on. No need for anyone to know he was going out even if it wasn't very late. He went down the stairs, rapidly crossed the common room where some of his friends were in deep conversation by the fireplace and headed for the Astronomy Tower. After a walk in the almost deserted corridors of the castle, he finally reached the tower. He climbed the stairs as quietly as he could and soon found himself at the top of the tower.

Draco was leaning on the railings, his back to Harry, standing at the exact same spot where Dumbledore had been killed. Harry thought about the headmaster for a fleeting moment but soon got his attention back to the blond in front of him. Once again, Harry couldn't help being fascinated by him. He took a moment to admire his lean body, taking in the view, still safely hidden under his Cloak. God, he was gorgeous.

Draco seemed to have sensed his presence.

Without even turning back, he softly said, "What are you doing here Potter?"

Slightly surprised at having been discovered, Harry removed his Invisibility Cloak in a swift movement. "How did you know it was me?" he asked.

Draco turned around slowly, facing Harry, a strange expression on his face. "Well, who else could it be?"

"I don't know... your boyfriend maybe?" Harry shrugged.

"Theo?" He seemed amused at the thought. "No. He doesn't know I come up here. Unlike you apparently." He paused, raising an eyebrow. "Have you been following me?"

"No, I haven't."

"Really? So how did you know I was there?" Draco frowned, folding his arms on his chest.

"Magic," Harry simply replied.

"I see," Draco said. He considered Harry for a moment, then unfolded his arms and started to move towards him. He stopped pretty close to him, almost as physically close as they had been in the Charms classroom a couple of weeks before. Harry couldn't move. Once again, the proximity with the object of his affection was doing funny things to his body. He could feel the heat emanating from the blond's body and that was driving him crazy.

"Potter, why are you here?" Draco whispered.

Harry swallowed hard. "What about you? Why do you come up here every night?"

Draco smiled, looking intensely at him with his beautiful grey eyes. Harry had never seen him smile like that before. Hell, he had hardly ever seen him smile at all. Well, if Harry had found Draco good-looking before, it was nothing compared to how he looked now. He was simply gorgeous, breath-taking. Harry was transfixed.

"Have you been stalking me, Potter?" He looked deep in his eyes, leaning slightly closer. "And by the way, I've asked you first."

Harry could hardly breathe now. He was afraid his body would fail him at some point and that he would collapse in Draco's arms. Which, if you thought about it, was maybe not such a bad thing after all.

"I...", Harry stammered, "I was just being curious," he said in a breath.

"Oh, I see," Draco replied, eyes narrowed, as if looking for something.

After a while though, he slowly pulled away and walked back to the railings and rested both his hands on them, once again turning his back on him. Harry let out a breath and relaxed a little.

"I wouldn't have killed him," Draco stated softly, as if talking to himself.

"I know," Harry replied. "You had lowered your wand."

Draco turned again to face him, a genuine look of surprise on his face. "How... how do you know? I've never told anyone."

"I was there. I saw the whole scene, I was hiding right there." He pointed the place where Dumbledore had forced him to stay silent and hidden from view.

Draco seemed taken aback by Harry's revelation. "You were there? The whole time?"

Harry nodded slowly.

"Shit," he simply said, looking down at the floor.

Harry walked the few steps separating him from the boy and told him in a gentle tone, "Malfoy, it's alright. I know you wouldn't have killed him. Dumbledore knew it too, and that's why he had made this deal with Snape."

Draco kept his head down, unwilling to look into Harry's eyes. "He... he tried to help me... I was there to kill him and he still tried to help me," he whispered, a tear silently running down his cheek. "I think about it every day. It haunts me. How could I have been so foolish and wrong?"

Harry had never seen him so vulnerable. "Draco... you were sixteen..."

Then, without thinking, he cupped Draco's chin in his hand and brushed the tear away with his thumb. Draco looked up and stared at him intensely for a while. Then, eyes still locked on Harry's, he slightly turned his head and put a light kiss on the other boy's hand. Harry felt goose bumps forming instantly on his arm. He gently slid his hand to the back of Draco's neck, slowly caressing the blond's hair at the nape of his neck. Draco shivered slightly at the soft touch, their eyes never leaving each other's. The blond hesitantly leant forward. Harry closed his eyes and felt Draco's soft lips gently brushing his. _Oh dear God. _That was it. He was kissing a boy. And not just any boy, he was kissing_ Draco Malfoy_. He felt a thrill run down his spine as he finally was where he'd craved to be for weeks. Harry hastily silenced the voice in his head that was reminding him that Draco had a boyfriend.

The kiss was gentle at first. Their lips were slowly moving together and Harry let out a soft moan. Then he slightly opened his mouth and their tongues tentatively touched for the first time. _Oh fuck, yes. _Draco was cupping the back of Harry's head in his hand, his other hand resting on Harry's waist, keeping him close. The kiss rapidly became more urgent, and Harry slid both his hands down, hungrily feeling the muscles and hard lines of Draco's back. God! He had never felt anything so good!

After a while, Harry reluctantly broke the kiss, panting slightly, their foreheads touching. "Wait," he said heavily breathing, looking around, "Not here." Draco nodded his agreement and hastily took his hand.

They hurriedly ran down the stairs of the Astronomy Tower and after checking no one was in view, went down the corridor, holding hands the whole time. They found an empty classroom, went in and locked it hastily.

They started kissing again passionately. Things were rapidly heating up now, and Draco pulled away to focus his attention on Harry's neck. Harry threw his head back to allow better access and slid both of his hands in Draco's silky hair. God, he had never been so aroused in his life! He unconsciously pressed his body against Draco's, feeling the incredible heat emanating from the other boy.

Draco slowly pushed Harry backwards, shoving him into the nearest wall, and Harry felt his head spin slightly at the sensation of being at the mercy of the other boy. The blond was now stealing under Harry's T-shirt, caressing the soft skin beneath while working on his mouth passionately.

They worked on each other's body hard and soon Harry felt overwhelmed by their mutual desire. The whole thing was passionate, frantic and incredible. He was being touched where no one had ever touched him before and it felt amazing. They didn't last long and let out a small cry as they reached climax. God, it had been so intense!

They dressed again in silence. Draco looked at Harry for a second, as if wanting to say something but seemed to think better of it and unlocked the door. He left the room without saying another word.

_What did you expect?_ Harry's inner voice was telling him. _He's Draco Malfoy._ Harry sighed heavily, reached for his Invisibility Cloak and left the room.

* * *

**A/N:** All reviews are appreciated!


	7. Aftermath

**Chapter 7 - Aftermath**

* * *

Shit, Draco was fucked! What the hell had he just done? He had let his guard down and had fallen right into Potter's arms. How could _that_ have happened?

He was pacing his room, anxiously running a hand in his hair.

He thought again about what had just happened with the boy. God, he had never thought, never imagined, even in his wildest dreams, that Potter would one day want him like that! And the problem was, Draco had now realised that he had wanted him for so long that it had been impossible for him to resist the dark-haired boy.

The whole thing had been incredible. The cute way Potter had blushed and moaned when Draco had started touching him... and how he had looked completely abandoned and vulnerable when he had come, hell when _Draco_ had made him come! God, he was getting hard again at the thought! But what had touched him the most had been the way Potter had been looking at him, comforting him, hell, even finding excuses for what he had done! His touch had been so soft, so gentle! Nobody had ever looked at him with such reverence before and Draco certainly wasn't used to it. _Draco_. He had nearly jumped when he had heard Potter calling him by his first name. It had felt so soft, so full of respect, so... intimate...

Shit, he had to stop the whole thing. He couldn't let himself fall for anyone like that, especially not Potter! He had to keep his emotions under control or he could lose everything and end up getting hurt. His relationship with Theo was perfect in that regard. Draco had absolutely no feelings for the boy, it was all just physical. And that was why he had allowed it to last that long. If ever there were to be more at one point, Draco would end it straight away, like he had always done.

Right, that's what he would do. He would change nothing. He would go on with Theo because it was nice and simple, and because it allowed him to have sex on a regular basis which was quite enjoyable at their age and he would stay away from Potter as much as he could. Yes, that's what he was going to do. Finally relieved with the decision he had just made, he got himself ready for bed and fell asleep with the picture of a messy-haired boy with bright green eyes on his mind.

* * *

Harry couldn't believe it. He had done it! He had been with a boy! And it had felt amazing, not at all scary like he had thought. God, the way they had looked at each other, the way they had touched and the way the hard body had felt under his fingers! All of that had been wonderful. And the fact that the boy in question had been Draco Malfoy, well, that was the icing on the cake, even if in the grand scheme of things it sounded a little crazy.

God, he couldn't wait to get more! He wanted Draco so bad it hurt. He wanted to kiss him again, to taste him again, to run his hands and his tongue all over the blond's lithe body. He wanted it all.

However, he had to be prudent. He was dealing with Draco Malfoy after all and things had never been simple with Draco. Harry knew he was very complex, and probably a little insecure too, behind all the facade bravado. Yes, he would have to be careful. The way Draco had left without a word had shown him that things might not be as easy as he thought, even if he tried not to think too much about it, not wanting to let that fact hurt him.

Well, that was it. He wouldn't rush things. He would wait and see how Draco would interact with him now and wouldn't initiate anything. He would let the blond come to him. Harry certainly didn't want to do anything to scare him away.

He went to bed quickly, still smiling when sleep claimed him.

* * *

Theo was determined to have a discussion with Draco.

He had to tell him about the way he felt and what he expected of the blond. They had been together for almost four months now and he wanted more.

They were always doing things Draco's way. To be honest, Theo had never complained about anything. He had always complied with whatever Draco had wanted. They made love the way Draco wanted to, never asking him what he would like. Bastard! The problem was that Theo had fallen in love with the bastard. Hard. And he definitely had to do something about it.

He would talk to Draco tonight. He would go and try to talk some sense into the blond. That wouldn't be easy, but if Draco liked him enough, he would accept it. Anyway, that was a take it or leave it situation. He knew there was a risk of freaking him out. But if it worked, it could be really good. He really had to give it a try.

Yes, that's what he would do.

Tonight.

* * *

"Bloody hell!" Draco growled as he entered the eighth year common room after Herbology class. Why did they have to be outside when it was so fricking cold anyway? The air had turned so ridiculously chilly! Draco cursed again. He had trouble getting himself warm and felt really grateful for the blazing fireplace of the common room.

However, the temperature of that late October day wasn't his main concern at the moment. A certain dark-haired Gryffindor boy was.

He had been trying very hard all day not to let himself disturbed by ridiculous thoughts, but unfortunately, it had been almost impossible to achieve. For one thing, Potter was everywhere Draco was: for breakfast, during lessons, for lunch, every time Draco looked up, the boy was there, like he was teasing him on purpose, simply by being in the same room.

Consequently, it had been very hard for him to concentrate. Every time he caught a glimpse at the boy, images of the look he had had on his face the previous night in the empty classroom popped up in Draco's mind, and it was utterly distracting. Shit. It made him feel like a stupid fifteen year old enamoured girl with an even more stupid crush.

Now that classes were over, he had to do something to suppress those stupid thoughts. He had to go and see Theo, and erase the memories of an aroused Potter from his mind. That's it, Draco. Stick to the plan.

He hurriedly went up the stairs and barged into his boyfriend's bedroom. The boy was working on his desk, and jumped slightly at Draco's intrusion, but still welcomed him with a smile on his lips. "Great minds think alike!" said the boy. "I was about to go and look for you," he said, putting down the quill he was holding on his desk.

Draco's eyes narrowed. Since when had the boy had to come and fetch him? "Why, what do you want?" he asked suspiciously.

Theo came to him and stroked his cheek. "Well... I'd like to talk," Theo said prudently.

_Talk_? The boy must be kidding him! What did he want to talk about? They had barely had a whole conversation in the four months they had been together!

"I didn't come here to talk," Draco said dryly, removing the boy's hand from his cheek.

"But... umpf!" Draco's mouth was on his before he could utter another word. The blond started urgently kissing him, making him lose his balance slightly. Draco was snogging him like his life depended on it, forcing his way into the other boy's mouth, holding him hard, before strongly pushing him to his bed.

"Wait, Draco!" Theo managed to say in between kisses, but Draco ignored him.

He started running his hands all over the boy's frail body while his mouth worked on his, and soon his left hand was heading to the boy's crotch. Draco then started unbuckling his belt but he didn't go far. Something didn't feel quite right. He couldn't do it. He couldn't manage to get into the mood. For crying out loud, what was wrong with him? He tried once again to remain focused on his fellow Slytherin, but he couldn't help thinking about the way he had felt with Potter the night before and to be perfectly honest, what he was currently doing wasn't feeling remotely as good as what he had experienced with the _bloody_ Boy-Who-Lived.

Shit.

He stopped dead in his tracks and stood up at once. He didn't want this. It felt too... awkward. However hard Draco tried -and God, did he try!- he couldn't stop thinking about the stupid Gryffindor. What he was currently doing paled in comparison to the arousal and utter excitement he had felt in the empty classroom the night before. Shit, why was he even comparing? And since when did thoughts like that prevent him to get laid? Hell, he had been perfectly happy with what he had been doing with Theo those last few months! Why did the bloody Scarhead keep invading his mind like that?

He wiped his mouth quickly, looking at the boy sprawled on the bed with a puzzled look on his face. Theo quickly got up and came to place his hands on Draco's waist, looking into his eyes.

He softly said, "What's wrong, Draco?" The blond looked at him intensely for a while. He certainly didn't want to answer the question. He chose to change the subject instead, pushing the boy's hands away from him, and heading to the door deep in thoughts before finally leaning on it and crossing his arms.

"Well, you wanted to talk. I'm listening." Theo seemed taken aback by the blond's sudden change of mind but didn't act on it.

He considered him for a while and finally said, "Okay."

Draco felt slightly relieved. He would listen to whatever the boy had to tell him and then, they would have their fun. Hopefully, by the time they got there, Draco would have been distracted enough to stop thinking about Potter.

Theo took a deep breath. "Right, there's something I had meant to tell you for a long time, but it's... it's not really easy so..."

"Straight to the point, Theo," Draco interrupted him impatiently.

"Right. Draco, I... I like you, _a lot_, and, I'd really like it if we could spend more time together," he said hesitantly, his eyes on the floor.

_Shit_. "What?" Draco said. "What for?" he frowned.

"Well, you know, so that we could get to know each other a little better?" Theo said, raising an eyebrow.

"We spend enough time together already, don't you think?" Draco replied.

"Well, yes, but we don't talk much..."

"Well, we are talking now..." he snapped, slightly annoyed.

"Yes, but, I mean... we don't talk much the rest of the time, so..."

"So? What's wrong with that?" Draco frowned again.

"Nothing's wrong... I mean, it's great, it's just that..." he came closer to Draco and started playing with the blond's tie. "I'd like to know more about you," he leant over to kiss the blond but Draco moved away from him swiftly and went to sit on the bed before Theo could do anything.

"What do you mean exactly?" Draco said, narrowing his eyes, expecting the worse.

Theo turned around to face him again and took a deep breath. "I want us to be in a real relationship. I'm..." he hesitated and finally said, "I think I'm in love with you," he blushed slightly, "and I want you Draco. I want to get to know you, I want to do stuff with you outside of this room. I'm not asking you to hold hands in public or tell your father I'm your boyfriend, I'm not that stupid. But I want more than just a quick daily shag. I want to really be with you."

Draco was speechless. What the hell was all that crap about? Getting to know him? Doing stuff outside of the bedroom? Being in a _relationship?_ After a while, Draco managed to say: "Are you out of your fricking mind? What the hell is this all about? What are you going to tell me next? That you want to marry me and have my kids?" he spat angrily.

"Draco," Theo replied quietly. "We've been together for almost four months and I thought it was time we took our relationship to the next level." He paused, looking at the blond with a sad look on his face. "But apparently this is not what you want," he added feebly.

"Theo," Draco closed his eyes for a while, joining his hands together in front of his mouth. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. "I am not in love with you, I never was and I never will be. I thought you knew that and that what we had, a quick daily shag like you said, was what you wanted too. I never meant for you to fall in love with me, whatever the hell that means anyway." He stood up.

"So I'd rather put an end to it all now. It's over Theo."

"No! Draco, I'm... ok, we'll do whatever you want! We can go on like that, that's fine, I'll manage! But please don't say it's over!"

Draco looked at the pleading boy contemptuously for a second, then opened the door and left the room without another word, leaving Theo speechless.

Shit, it really had been a crappy day.

* * *

**A/N:** Reviews welcomed!


	8. Deal

**Chapter 8 - Deal**

* * *

**A/N: **This is the edited version of chapter 8. I had to tone down the original chapter to fit the M rating of Fanfiction. If you are over 18 and wish to see the whole unedited version of this chapter as it was originally written, please see links in my profile!

* * *

One week.

It had been one week since his tryst with Potter in the empty classroom. One week since Draco had been intimate with the boy, and since then, nothing.

Potter hadn't come back for more. Worse, Potter had been utterly ignoring him, like absolutely nothing had happened between them. Not a word, not even a look, nothing. And he had never come back to the Astronomy Tower either. Draco had kind of expected him to, but no, he hadn't.

It annoyed Draco. A lot. He wasn't used to such indifference. He was used to people wanting more, begging him for more. He usually was the one who played indifferent. What was wrong with him? Had he lost his touch? Hell, Potter had seemed to really have appreciated what Draco had done to him!

To make matters worse, it had also been one week since his break-up with Theo, which meant he had not had sex in a week.

God, he had wanted the boy for so long that now he'd had a taste of it, he craved for more! It was driving him crazy. He had to do something. He had to see if he still had some power over Potter. He had to go and see the boy. Like right now. God, was he _that_ desperate? Yes, he thought, leaving his room, he was. He really was that desperate.

* * *

Draco hurriedly went down to the common room. Potter was there, having a good laugh with some friends by the fireplace. Shit. Dumbly, he had expected the boy to be on his own. That wasn't going to be easy. Potter was sitting on the floor by the sofa, laughing his head off at whatever Finnigan had just said. God, he hated the guy. Draco came closer, standing right behind Longbottom and Thomas, and facing Potter.

The dark-haired boy looked at him quietly and asked, "What do you want, Malfoy?"

Shit. So they were back to last names again.

He felt Longbottom tense at the mention of his name and remembered what Potter had told him. He thought for a second of making fun of the guy but thought better. He didn't have time for that right now.

"A word with you?" Draco replied, never lowering his gaze.

"Well... can't it wait? I'm kind of busy right now as you can see."

He heard Finnigan's smirk but ignored it. God, that was torture. Was Potter doing it on purpose?

"I'm afraid it can't," he replied patiently.

Potter sighed. "Fine, I'm coming," he said, reluctantly getting up.

"Wait, Harry! You don't have to go!" Finnigan said indignantly. "You don't owe him anything, mate! Why don't you tell him to bugger off and just stay with us?" he added bluntly, looking defiantly at him. Draco swallowed hard, biting back a retort. _Don't_ _pay attention to him, focus on Potter_, he was nervously reminding himself.

"Nah, that's alright Seamus, I won't be long," Harry finally said.

Draco let out a sigh of relief and they both left the common room, Potter soon leading him up the stairs to his room. He swiftly opened the door and invited Draco in. He then locked it and turned to face him.

"What do you want?" Potter repeated in a dry tone.

God, he was hot! Draco couldn't hold it any longer. Without thinking, he walked the few steps separating him from the other boy and shoved him into the door, grabbing the collar of his shirt with his hands and crushing their mouths together.

He felt Potter resist for a second and then the boy started kissing him back. Oh dear God! The boy was running his hands all over his body again, sending jolts of electricity everywhere. Draco let out a whimper. They kissed intensely for a while, rediscovering the other's body and moaning loudly. Soon Draco left Potter's mouth to kiss his jawline and the back of his neck. The sounds escaping the boy's mouth at his touch set him on fire as he was thoroughly enjoying the scent and taste of the other boy on his tongue. He started deftly unbuttoning Potter's shirt and it fell to the ground with a swish. Draco took a step back to admire the boy's chest.

Potter was stunning. His face was flushed, his hair ruffled and he looked ruggedly handsome. He had a perfectly toned chest, with well-defined muscles. Years of Quidditch had certainly done good to his body. Draco swiftly moved closer and started lightly kissing Potter's skin, at first slowly, then more passionately, soon running his tongue over all the curves and indents of the boy's muscular torso. Potter closed his eyes, threw his head back and ran his hands in Draco's hair, holding him in place. He let out a low moan, as well as a "_God_, _Draco_," when the blond started teasing his nipples. The way Potter had said his name made Draco shudder.

Soon Potter was bringing Draco up, grabbing his collar, unbuttoning his shirt and started to remove it. He stopped dead and suddenly looked into his eyes. Draco knew exactly what Potter was thinking at that moment and nodded with a heavy sigh. When he finally let the shirt fall to the floor along with his own, Potter grabbed Draco's left forearm carefully in his hand and looked at him for a second confirmation that he was okay about this. Draco bit his lower lip nervously, before slowly nodding his assent. Potter then brought Draco's arm closer up and took a good look at his Dark Mark.

"I... I don't know what to say," Draco said sheepishly, looking down at the floor. This ugly mark was the reminder of all the terrible things he had done, all the wrong choices he had made, and he suddenly panicked at the thought that Potter would change his mind, or rather come to his senses and reject him like he had always done before. He was starting having trouble breathing normally when he felt Potter's hand on his face, gently caressing him, forcing him to look back up in his eyes.

"That's fine, you don't have to say anything for now," he said, looking intensely into Draco's eyes now. "That was then, and this is now. We'll have plenty of time to talk about it later on."

He then brought Draco's hands to his mouth and gently placed a kiss on each of them. Then he put both hands on Draco's neck, sliding them to cup the back of his head and reached his mouth, kissing him tenderly. Draco let out a sigh of relief and relaxed, soon getting lost in the boy's embrace again.

They were now skin to skin, both naked to the waist, snogging more passionately than ever, running their hands all over the other's body, hungrily cupping each other's arses, moaning and gasping loudly.

To Draco's surprise, Potter suddenly pushed him backwards, motioning him to the bed, never breaking the kisses. He had never thought the boy would be so bold as to initiate something like that. But he certainly wasn't complaining, nope, not at all! He loved Potter's rough handling. He climbed onto the bed, pulling the boy with him. He removed Potter's glasses, sending them farther away on the bed. The two boys were now panting heavily, Potter still on top of Draco, rubbing hard against him.

"Well, aren't we a little impatient?" Draco smirked.

"I've, _oh God_, waited long enough!" was the boy's answer.

To make his point clear, Potter grabbed his mouth in another deep kiss.

After a while, Draco pushed Potter back fiercely, sending him sprawling onto his back on the bed. With Draco on top of him, straddling his legs, Potter seemed more vulnerable than ever. Draco was now pinning him to the bed, looking at him deeply.

"Mmmm... that's better," Draco whispered, his lust-filled eyes never leaving Potter's. The boy tried to wriggle out of his embrace but to no avail.

"Bastard!" he said with a wicked grin.

"Hey, you know me," Draco replied with a smirk. He then managed to put Harry's hands together above the boy's head on the bed, holding them firmly in place with his left hand, his right hand lightly tracing invisible lines on the boy's body, making him shiver.

"Merlin_, Draco!_" Potter whispered, his eyes closed.

"You like that?"

"What do you think, you prat? Of course I do!" Potter replied playfully.

Draco smiled. Encouraged by the boy's words, he released his hands and started tracing kisses all over his chest again.

Draco couldn't believe he was there, on _Harry Potter_'s bed, about to pleasure him in a way the boy had never been before. He took time to admire the beautiful body under him and felt Potter's hand suddenly grab his wrist.

"Draco...", he said, panting heavily, "I... no one has ever done anything like that... to me before... I... please take it slow," he stammered.

Draco looked into those intense green eyes for a moment and murmured, "Right, don't worry. I won't... force you to do anything you don't want me to, okay? Just let me know if you want me to stop," he softly replied, hoping desperately that Potter wouldn't. The boy bit his lower lip again and nodded.

Draco kissed him hard again and slowly started to work down Harry's body.

He wanted to do things well, and felt rapidly reassured by the beautiful sounds escaping Harry's lips at his ministrations. A thrill coursed through his spine as he felt the boy's fingers suddenly grab his hair, and he knew the boy wouldn't last long. Soon enough, he felt Harry tense as the boy reached his climax in a cry. Draco then slowly kissed his way up Harry's body, before reaching his mouth and taking him in a heated kiss.

Draco jumped a mile when he felt a hesitant hand working its way down his body and soon closed his eyes, as Harry was now taking care of his aching need.

* * *

Afterwards, they remained in each other's arms for a while, slowly catching their breath.

Potter spoke first. "God, Draco, that was amazing!" he said, gently playing with the blond's hair.

"Mmmm... yeah, that was pretty brilliant."

Draco was slowly dozing off when Potter looked at him with a funny expression on his face and asked. "So, not running away this time?"

Draco propped himself up on his elbow, frowning. "What, you already want me to leave?"

The boy smiled and answered with a wink, tracing invisible lines on Draco's chest with his fingers, "Nah, that's fine, you can stay."

"Good," Draco replied, kissing him lightly on the mouth, lying back down and closing his eyes again.

"Can I ask you something?" Potter blurted again.

"Mmmm?"

"What about Theo?" he inquired.

"What about him?" Draco replied sleepily.

"Well, I'm not completely comfortable with us doing stuff behind your boyfriend's back."

"Mmmm those famous Gryffindors' morals." Draco sneered and jumped when the boy pinched him hard on the shoulder.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Draco asked indignantly, rubbing his shoulder.

"Making fun of me," Potter replied cheekily. "So, about Theo?"

"Don't worry, your morals are safe, Potter. I broke up with him right after our little encounter the other night, satisfied?"

The boy had a huge grin on his face. "Yes, that's great! I mean, not for him but then..." he seemed to think about something and said again. "How long had you two been together?"

"Potter, are you not going to let me rest?" Draco groaned.

"Well, apparently not," Potter replied with a smirk.

Draco rolled his eyes and sat impatiently. "Alright. Here's what I suggest. You let me recover for a while and then we go back down before your friends start freaking out and worrying I have kidnapped or killed you, and _then_," he silenced the boy who was about to protest by pressing a finger to his lips, "then we meet again here tomorrow after class for example, and I'll answer all of your questions. Does that sound acceptable to you?" he removed his finger from Potter's mouth and replaced it by a soft kiss.

The boy considered him for a moment and finally replied. "Fine, but you _will_ answer my questions, right?"

"All of them. Satisfied?" Potter nodded and Draco lay back down. The boy moved him slightly to grab the sheets and cover them both. He then snuggled against him, a content look on his face.

* * *

**A/N:** Reviews welcomed!


	9. Small confessions

**Chapter 9 - Small confessions**

* * *

Harry was terribly impatient to spend time with Draco again and he couldn't wait to be able to ask him all the questions he wanted to. Unfortunately, the day seemed to be dragging on endlessly. It was very hard for him to focus on whatever the teachers were saying when so much was going on in his head.

Exceptionally, Hermione had not tried to talk Harry into another study session after their classes, which he had found quite unusual. It was funny since Ron wasn't exactly his usual self either. Every time they were together, it felt as if his best mate wanted to tell him something but backed down on it at the last minute.

Finally, Ron seemed to have screwed up some courage and, at the end of classes, as they were heading back to the West Tower, he stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to Harry, looking ill at ease.

"Er, Harry, mate, would it bother you… I mean, would you mind terribly if… you know, if I let you work on your own for tonight?" he asked sheepishly, blushing slightly.

Harry was a bit puzzled by his demand, since they had always been doing their homework together, but answered nonetheless. "No, that's fine, mate, do you have… other plans?" he asked, a bit curious as to why his best friend wouldn't want to study with him like they normally would.

"I, er… yeah, I mean, there's this… _thing_ I haven't really quite grabbed… in, in class, I mean," he was blushing furiously now, "and Hermione… well, she… she proposed to explain it to me earlier on, so…"

Harry suddenly understood what it was all about and tried very hard not to laugh at his best friend's pathetic excuses. "Oh, I see! And what is it exactly that you need her to explain to you?" he tried to remain casual, but that was very hard, since Ron was now as red as his hair.

"I… well… it's… well, I don't remember _precisely_, but Hermione said that I really needed tutoring on this one so-"

"That's fine, I get it, Ron. Now go! I have planned to _study_ myself as well anyway," Harry declared with a smile, wishing to put an end to his friend's discomfort.

"Thanks, mate!" Ron said as he was going away.

Harry was still smiling when he met Draco in front of the portrait of the Silver Knight. They had about an hour before dinner time. Since they didn't want anybody to know about them yet, they'd had to think of a simple way for Draco to join Harry in his bedroom unnoticed. So the day before, they had contemplated different possibilities (as a matter of fact, Harry had been utterly impressed by the cunning of some of the Slytherin's ideas), before settling on using Harry's Invisibility Cloak.

Harry had been a bit reluctant at first; the Cloak was his dearest possession after all. It had belonged to his father and was a very ancient piece of magic. In the back of his mind, a little voice was nagging him over the fact that it probably wasn't a really reasonable idea to lend something as unique and priceless to your long-term former enemy, a Slytherin, at that. But his instinct told him to go for it, to trust the blond with it, and so he did, and felt completely at peace about it.

Draco let out a low whistle when he took his first look at the Cloak. He snatched it from Harry's hands, but immediately curbed his enthusiasm, realising he probably should show a little bit more of self-control, muttering a "wow, this is something!" that could pass as an apology, and stroking the fabric in his fingers with more reverence. He then started playing with it, having good fun at hiding different parts of himself, and of Harry, a childish grin on his face, making Harry laugh heartily. Even though he was reluctant to admit it, since the idea hadn't been his in the first place, Draco agreed that the Cloak would be perfect for their meet ups.

The plan was simple, really: Harry first had to go to his room to get the Cloak. He would then wait until nobody was around before discretely stashing it in a tiny cavity they had discovered behind the statue of Godfric-the-Brave for Draco to retrieve it. Harry would then go back to his room and wait for the blond to arrive.

So that's exactly what they did. While Harry was waiting for Draco, he hastily made his bed and tried to tidy his room up a bit. He knew Draco didn't like mess very much, so he picked up the clothes that were scattered on the floor and on his desk and put them away in the hamper in the bathroom.

He was scanning his room to try and see what could still be improved when he felt two hands on his waist. "Boo!" he jumped a mile both at the touch and at the sound Draco had made.

"Prat," he said in a dry tone, while Draco swiftly removed the Cloak and threw it on the chair.

"I'll take it as a compliment, Potter!" the blond looked pretty pleased with himself and Harry couldn't help laughing at the silly expression on his face.

Draco took him in his arms and kissed him hard. God, Harry could never have enough of the sweet taste of the blond! He closed his eyes when Draco started delicately trailing kisses onto his neck. "Mmmm... I know that you want to talk today, Potter, but... you're sure you don't want to skip the questions part?" Draco asked seductively. "Cause I'd love to do all kinds of dirty things to you right now," he said, groping Harry's backside suggestively.

Harry shivered at the thought. He opened his eyes and sent his arms around Draco's neck. "No," he finally replied with a smile. "We made a deal, Draco, and I want my answers."

"You're really sure about that?" The git had managed to take Harry's shirt out of his trousers and was now running his hands all over the soft skin of his back, pressing himself hard against him. Harry let out a soft cry, closing his eyes again. "Because, I could answer your questions after we'd had our fun, if you'd only let me," he whispered in his ear, scraping his earlobe with his teeth.

It took quite a large amount of willpower for Harry not to surrender to Draco's assaults. He managed to stand firm and pushed him back, his hands pressed firmly on the boy's chest. "Hey, you're not playing fair! You promised me, you bloody manipulative Slytherin!" he said with a smirk.

Draco gave up and sighed. "You're no fun," he said pouting while climbing onto Harry's bed.

Harry joined the boy and snuggled up against him. Draco moved slightly away from him, crossing his arms and shifting his gaze, a sullen look on his face. God, he was so cute! Harry couldn't help but laugh at him, and slid his arm under Draco's tenderly.

Draco rolled his eyes and kissed him quickly. "Right, Potter, what's your first question?" he asked impatiently.

Harry looked at him, took a deep breath and started. "Right, okay. How long have you been with Theo?"

"Really Potter? That's the best you can do? You don't have anything more interesting to ask me?"

"Oh come on, Draco," Harry pleaded.

"Fine. Three or four months I think," Draco replied.

"Really? That's quite long!" Harry felt a pang of jealousy but went on. "How did the two of you get together?"

Draco looked at Harry and took a deep breath. "He came to see us at the Manor this summer. His father had been taken away right after the war and he didn't really know what had happened to him. He wanted to see Father to know if he had heard about anything. Father hadn't but Mother felt kind of sorry for him so she invited him to stay with us for a while. In the end, we learned that his father had been interrogated by the Ministry but since he hadn't joined the Dark Lord after what had happened in the Department of Mysteries, they had released him. Anyway, in the meantime, he and I got to know each other a little better and then, one thing leading to another... "

"Yeah, yeah I get it" Harry said wincing, not wanting to imagine what Draco had done with the other boy.

"Oh, but you're sure you don't want to know all the juicy details?" Draco teased, looking delighted at Potter's reaction.

"No thanks, I'm not interested," Harry replied dryly.

"Jealous?" Draco said again with a satisfied grin. "I like that!" he tried to kiss Harry but he turned his head away sulkily.

"Prick!" Harry quipped. Draco laughed again. Harry ignored him and tried to focus on his next question. "Did you know before he... was gay?"

"Well, not really," Draco paused. "I hadn't really paid attention to him up till then. But sometimes you don't need to know before. You can see it in the other boy's eyes, or the way he behaves around you," Draco explained seriously.

"So that's how you knew? You kind of guessed?"

"Yes, I think you can put it like that."

"Was he your first boyfriend?" Harry continued, secretly hoping it had been the case.

"Theo? No, I've had a few other boyfriends before." Draco answered evasively. Shit. He sure was more experienced in that field than himself.

"Really?" Harry went on. "How many boyfriends have you had?" Harry wanted to know more. He was utterly intrigued by the boy's laid-back approach concerning his sexuality. Draco had obviously figured things out for himself much sooner than Harry had.

"I don't know, I didn't really count them you know, I don't keep tabs on who I went out with!" Draco chuckled.

"Well, I can count mine and that's pretty easy," Harry answered bitterly. "You must have had lots then." He suddenly felt embarrassed at his lack of experience compared to Draco.

"Well, not _lots_. What do you take me for, Potter?" Draco frowned, slightly annoyed.

"No, it's just that... we're the same age and I've only just managed to kiss two girls before you, so..."

Draco relaxed a bit. "Well, you haven't exactly been doing nothing all those years... you've been quite busy chasing baddies and killing the most powerful Dark Wizard of those last fifty years, you didn't exactly have time to think about anything else besides that I guess..."

Harry looked at him with a curious look on his face. He couldn't help thinking about what Draco had himself been up to during that time, and particularly in the last couple of years, when he had been involved in very illicit and utterly dangerous activities.

"True," he replied. Then something struck him. "But how come I never found out about you before?"

"Well, you and I weren't exactly close to one another all those years, right?" Draco said with a weak smile, reaching for Harry's fingers and entwining them with his. "And by the way, you didn't even figure it out for yourself until a few weeks ago, so how were you supposed to know about anybody else?" he added.

"Right," sighed Harry, thinking of all that had happened between them all those years. His face dropped as he suddenly remembered something. Something that had haunted him long after it had happened. Something he still felt thoroughly ashamed of. He whispered, "God, Draco, I'm so sorry..."

"What? Why?" Draco frowned, slightly puzzled at the boy's sudden change of mood.

"For... you know... when I... when I hit you with the... Sectumsempra spell in the bathroom back in sixth year... I didn't... I didn't know what it was, I swear. I would never have done it to you if I'd known what it would do beforehand!" Harry said, feeling utterly guilty.

Draco looked at him intensely and finally said, "I know. And don't apologise for it. If you hadn't done it, I would have crucioed you, and that would have been even worse," he seemed to think about something. "And by the way," Draco added, "I broke your nose and you saved my life twice... so I'd say we're even, Potter," he said very seriously.

Harry looked deep into Draco's grey eyes for a while. There was something else he had wanted to know for a long time but he wasn't quite sure about the way the blond would react. After pondering that for a while though, he decided to give it a go and murmured, "Could you... tell me about your Dark Mark?"

Draco shut down instantly. _Shit, _Harry thought. "I... don't really want to talk about that tonight," he replied sternly, slightly backing away.

Harry insisted, "Well, you said you would answer all my questions so..."

"I said not tonight," Draco snapped. "Now don't push me, Potter, or I'll go," he added menacingly, an edge to his voice.

Harry considered him for a while and made up his mind pretty quickly, knowing the boy could blow up in his face on the first occasion. "Fine. I'm sorry," he said sheepishly and Draco seemed to relax a bit.

Harry tried to think of something else to say. There were millions of questions he wanted to ask Draco, about his family, his childhood, but he felt he might not completely be ready for that either. So he opted for something different. There was something he had wanted to ask after what they had done the day before, when Draco had, well, gone down on him, something he had been thinking about in his bed last night. He went for it, deciding that sex was a safer topic with Draco anyway.

"How is it to... do what you did to me yesterday?" he asked timidly, fixing a crack on the opposite wall, avoiding Draco's eyes this time.

"Oh! Your mind certainly changes tracks quite easily Potter!" Draco smiled again.

God, Harry could never tire of that beautiful smile! Especially knowing he was the one bringing it to his face, after years of seeing him scowl!

"Well, the first time it's kind of weird and seems a bit gross even, but very quickly you get to find it pretty enjoyable. Believe me, giving it is almost as good as receiving. You should try it sometimes," he added with a wink, smiling again.

Harry could physically feel the blush creeping up his face at the thought. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat. "Well, I guess I'll find out one day," he said, still avoiding Draco's eyes.

"Well, I certainly hope so!" Draco replied, revelling in the boy's embarrassment, "The sooner the better I'd say! You know what? You could try it now, you know, for the sake of experimentation? I'm not thinking about myself there Potter, I'm thinking about you. I'm totally disinterested," he added with another wink resulting in Harry shoving him hard. "Ouch! Are you going to stop hurting me, Potter?" he snarled.

"Not until you stop being a git," Harry replied with a grin.

"Why am I being a git? I'm just trying to do you a favour and get a little something along the way!" Draco said indignantly. "Speaking of which... If you're finally done with all your annoying questions, we could maybe..." he kissed Harry on his mouth and started undoing his shirt. Harry couldn't hold out a moan and soon forgot about everything else. His other questions could wait. He hastily grabbed his wand and cast both a locking and silencing charm on the door, before rushing back into Draco's waiting arms.

* * *

"Well, what a pleasant surprise! I haven't seen much of you those last few days!" Blaise Zabini told Draco as the lean blond took a seat opposite him in the library.

"Well, I've been pretty busy, Blaise," Draco replied.

"I can see that," Blaise said, a strange look on his face. "Been having fun, Draco?" he added with a smile.

"Well, I've been studying a lot if you must know," Draco snarled, getting all his books out of his bag and spreading them on the desk.

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really, studying?" he added with a big smile. "Is Potter a good teacher then?"

Draco looked at him with narrowed eyes. "I certainly have no idea what you're talking about, Blaise."

"Oh, yeah?" Blaise smiled again. "It's funny, I would have bet you two had kept staring at each other all day long, thinking naively that no one would notice," Blaise replied, a huge grin on his face.

"And how would you know that?" Draco replied dryly. "Been staring at Potter a lot lately, Blaise? You have the fantasies you want, after all," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Though I didn't know you played for the team, I must say it rather surprises me, after all those years chasing girls!" he added with a scowl.

"Yeah, well, you can play all you want, Draco, but I know what I saw. And you'd better wish Theo doesn't learn about it. He's not exactly over you, if you must know," Blaise snapped.

"Why, what did he say to you?" Draco frowned.

"Not denying it anymore, then, Draco?" Blaise said, a victorious smile on his lips. The blond rolled his eyes. "Well, what do you think?" Blaise went on. "He came to me right after you left him. The guy was inconsolable, moping around so much it was embarrassing. You know it happens all the time? Every time you break up with a guy they come to me. God, if I were gay, I would have lots of opportunities thanks to you!" he snarled.

"Well, help yourself to my leftovers as much as you want, Blaise," Draco teased. "Anyway, what can I say? The guy practically asked for my hand, and I wasn't remotely interested," he added, taking his parchment and quill out from his bag.

"Yes, that's what he told me." Blaise stated, looking into the blond's eyes. "You don't generally give the poor gits a chance to get too close anyway, do you?" Draco shrugged. "Yeah, I thought so," Blaise added thoughtfully.

He took a moment to consider his friend and then said. "So Potter? I certainly didn't see that one coming! I wonder what in the hell you have done to manage something like that!"

"Well, what can I say? Nobody can resist my charms!" Draco said superiorly.

"Yeah, always been such a mystery to me!" Blaise sighed dramatically. Draco looked at him and suddenly kicked him hard under the table.

"Ouch, you bastard!" Blaise said loudly. Madam Pince looked at them with a stern look on her face.

"Something wrong, Blaise?" Draco whispered with a grin. Blaise bent over a little to rub his leg, a grimace of pain on his face.

He leaned back and looked again at Draco. "Anyway, I didn't even know the Saviour-of-the-Wizarding-World was gay," he said incredulously. "I thought he was dating Weasley's sister?"

"Well, yeah, he was. But then he saw me and decided to give up on girls once and for all!" Draco bragged.

Blaise laughed. "You're a prat. But seriously, what happened to him?"

"Well, I don't know! He's probably been gay all his life but was too busy chasing villains to see it! Now that everything is over at last, he finally realises how incredibly sexy and utterly irresistible I am and got completely overwhelmed by the power of his attraction to this gorgeous body!" he boasted.

Blaise laughed heartily. "Yeah, you're probably right, that must definitely be it!" he said mockingly.

"Of course I'm right! I'm always right!" Draco replied raising an eyebrow.

Blaise chuckled. God, Draco was something! "Yeah, well anyway, I hope you know what you're doing."

"I do, don't worry about that. I'm just taking what there is to take and that's it." Draco replied.

"Well, be careful not to get too carried away and do something stupid like... fall in love," Blaise replied in a more serious tone.

"Are you crazy? You know I can't afford to! Not with a guy anyway," he had a bitter look on his face. "I have to marry some chick Father will have chosen for me and produce an heir as you well remember, Blaise," Draco added sadly.

"I certainly do," Blaise said, knowing all too well how things worked in pure-blood circles. His own mother had married seven times, after all.

"Right, anyway, don't worry, it's just fooling around, nothing to get overexcited about," Draco drawled.

"If you say so…" Blaise concluded.

And with that, they finally started working on their assignments.

* * *

**A/N: If you like what I write, please take five minutes to leave a review! Thank you!**


	10. Revelations

**Chapter 10 - Revelations**

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**A/N: This is the edited version of chapter 10. However, if you are of age and wish to read the unedited version, please see links to AO3 and LJ in my profile! **

**Also, this is a much longer chapter than usual, but I couldn't see myself cutting it so... **

**And finally, it's important for me to get feedback on what I write, so if you have five minutes to tell me what you think, that'd be nice! **

* * *

Harry was feeling great. More than great, almost ecstatic. It had only been three weeks since Draco had kissed him in the Astronomy Tower but it felt like so much more time had passed since then!

He had rarely felt so happy in his life. After all he had been through, that was simply how he felt: ridiculously happy. Draco was the first thing on his mind when he woke up in the morning and the last thing when falling asleep. He was amazed to see how well the two of them were getting on, considering the way they had treated each other all those years, and he couldn't help thinking how different things could have been between them, had they not been fighting each other harshly from the very beginning.

Draco was something. Like Harry had told Ginny at the time - God, it felt like a lifetime ago! - there was much more to Draco than what the blond showed the world. In the privacy of Harry's bedroom, Draco was a very bright, interesting and sensitive boy. The two of them spent hours talking about many things while cuddling on the bed. The conversations flowed very naturally between them and they felt utterly comfortable with one another. On top of that, Harry had discovered something that he had never suspected before: Draco was a very funny guy and he made him laugh like no other.

True, Draco was sometimes acting like the arrogant prat Harry had always known, showing his displeasure without restraint when things wouldn't turn the way he wanted them to. He was also, from time to time, behaving like the spoiled brat he had always been and still had weird views on certain subjects. However, Harry was aware that these personality traits were part of the package and he knew to look past Draco's imperfections to reach what was safely hidden behind those appearances.

There were still topics they would avoid though. It was for example, still too early for Draco to speak about his Dark Mark and anything that had happened during sixth year. But Harry knew it was just a question of time before he would open up and accept to talk about these delicate subjects. Harry had already learned a few things concerning Draco in general and his family in particular. Like the way Draco had been raised in this wealthy and bigoted environment, how he had always been close to his mother and in awe of his father, still being full of respect for him even after all that had happened.

The thought of Lucius Malfoy made him shiver slightly. The man had not left good memories... Fortunately, Draco was rather different from his father. Harry loved how they would meet almost daily in the intimacy of his bedroom. He was rapidly becoming addicted to spending time alone with the blond. Hermione and Ron were so busy themselves that they didn't even suggest meeting with Harry after class anymore and it was fine by him. It was like a tacit agreement between them. Harry understood very well how his friends craved to spend time alone with one another because Harry felt the same about Draco, always wanting to be with him, to be physically close to the boy. Harry sometimes wondered if the others, and particularly his friends, noticed that both Draco and he were missing at the same time on a daily basis. If it were the case though, nobody had mentioned anything about it yet. On the other hand, Draco and him kept their distance in front of the others, and even if they didn't fight like they used to, they were very careful not to give any hint as to what was going on between them behind closed doors.

Harry had mixed feelings about his two best friends. He couldn't help thinking about how Ron and Hermione were somehow experiencing the same things Harry was, probably discovering what it felt like to be close and intimate with someone just like he was with Draco. He supposed his friends had about the same questions and hesitations about what it was like to be in a relationship with someone.

However, he felt sad that he couldn't tell them about any of it. It was such a shame that, after all they had gone through together, they should not be able to talk about what was happening to them right now. True, Harry was experimenting in that field with a boy but apart from that detail, it wasn't much different. It felt weird to him not to be a part of that, not to share those incredibly important moments of their lives with his two best friends. It was utterly frustrating. Harry wasn't used to being left out of what any of them was living after having spent years sharing about absolutely everything, especially with Ron.

Harry was missing Ron's easy-going and goofy personality a lot. Sure, they still spent time with each other on a daily basis but it wasn't quite the same. Without his friends knowing about his relationship with Draco, a whole important part of his life was hidden from them and Harry wished he could simply tell them. He sighed at the thought that, had he been with a girl, things would have been totally different. He surely wouldn't have to hide as if what he was doing was terribly wrong. How could something that felt so good be considered so bad by some people? Harry sighed again and tried to focus on something more positive.

The time spent in bed with Draco was amazing. Harry had been intimidated at first, feeling overwhelmed by his emotions and even sometimes embarrassed and vulnerable at displaying himself the way he was in front of the blond. Still, Draco was doing everything he could to make him comfortable. He was very patient with him, always doing everything he could to please Harry. Harry knew the blond had much more experience with boys. He knew Draco had already had proper sex several times with other boys including Theo, and yet, he never showed any signs of impatience with him, never forcing him to do anything he didn't want to do, patiently waiting for Harry to be ready. Of course, he would never admit it out loud. He would always hide what he did and felt behind a mask, sneering and teasing him constantly. But Harry knew better. He knew that despite everything, Draco thoroughly respected him and it felt exhilarating.

There was one thing in particular that Draco was doing to Harry that was driving him crazy. Harry liked it so much that he couldn't wait to return the favour now. He knew the blond wanted it badly too, because he had already asked him to do it to him once and also because he could see it in his eyes every time Harry's face was going close to his bits. However, Draco never pressured him into anything. Harry had been thinking about doing it a lot lately, and felt somehow ready now. He was determined to do it for Draco, to well, go down on him, and see if, like the blond had told him, giving it felt as good as receiving.

Harry smiled when he heard the now familiar tiny click in the door, indicating Draco's arrival. He didn't turn back as he heard the door squeak open and then close but simply shut his eyes, a smile on his lips as he felt the pressure of Draco's hands on his waist. He shivered as the blond kissed him softly on the back of his neck, wrapping his hands around Harry's stomach. Harry slowly opened his eyes and turned around, sending his arms around Draco's neck, leaning into the blond's warm body and kissing him soundly on his mouth. Draco let out a moan and opened his lips slightly to allow Harry's tongue inside of his mouth while his hands found their way down Harry's bottom. Harry shivered as the blond slightly pulled away and started mapping his lips with his tongue, trapping his bottom lip, sucking on it lightly before it invaded Harry's mouth again. God, he felt already so aroused, and it was just a kiss! Draco soon broke it and considered him with an amused grin on his face.

"Missed me?" he asked cheekily.

Harry seemed to be thinking hard. "Mmm... I don't know..." he answered with a grin.

Draco frowned. "Really? Well maybe I should go back to the common room and see if someone else would like to spend time with me then? I could ask Theo?" he said with a wink.

"Don't you dare! You're all mine!" Harry replied, looking offended, and Draco was laughing at him again so Harry decided to stop him by kissing him hard and pushing him to the bed. The blond moaned loudly but didn't object at all and soon they were lying down, and Draco had somehow once more managed to get on top of Harry. They were kissing intensely and groping each other, soon becoming frustrated by the amount of material standing between them.

They started moving against one another feverishly, never breaking the kisses. Soon, Harry was fighting his way up to settle on top of Draco again. He wouldn't let him without a fight so Harry unashamedly grabbed Draco's crotch, unsettling him and allowing him to gather his strengths in order to pin the blond hard on the bed, firmly sitting on top of his hips.

"Git!" Draco murmured.

"I learned from the best!" Harry replied with a smile.

At that point, the atmosphere in the room changed. Harry could now see pure lust in his lover's eyes and that set all his nerves on fire. He was ready to do all he could to please him and planned to do just that. Today, it would be all about Draco.

Harry started by slowly removing the boy's sweater, never looking away from his beautiful grey eyes. Draco motioned to put his hands on Harry's waist but he wouldn't let him. He pushed Draco's hands away firmly and proceeded to undo the blond's tie, then his shirt, button after button, taking his time to appreciate the firm muscles he could feel beneath the fabric. Draco smiled lightly and put both his hands under his head, enjoying Harry's ministrations. Harry then started opening Draco's shirt carefully, running his hands slowly over every part of his chest, teasing his nipples with his thumbs, the boy moaning his approval. When he was done, Harry leaned forward and hungrily attacked his neck, licking and sucking every inch of the sensitive skin with his tongue, leaving an angry red mark on it. Draco released his hands from under his head and placed one of them on Harry's instead, softly caressing his hair, gently entwining his fingers in Harry's dark locks, while his other hand rested on the sheets next to him. He closed his eyes and threw his head back, letting out a loud moan.

Harry then started trailing light kisses down Draco's body, pausing on his right nipple, circling it with the tip of his tongue before taking it in his mouth and sucking hard on it. Draco intensified his grip on Harry's head, whispering softly, "God, Potter, you're so... _oh." _He couldn't finish. Harry had now attacked his left nipple in the same fashion and Draco was now writhing on Harry's bed. Draco's reactions were warming Harry's insides in a way he had never felt before and he couldn't hold back a smile.

He left Draco's nipples and took a deep breath before starting trailing the tip of his tongue across his abdomen, slowly working his way down. He gently kissed Draco's belly button and the blond shivered again. As Harry was approaching the waistband of his lover's trousers he paused and took a deep breath. He felt Draco's hand gently squeeze his head and heard him say softly, "Potter... no matter what I told you before, I... you don't have to..."

Harry looked up in his eyes and softly answered. "I know, but I want to." Draco exhaled. Harry stared at him for a few seconds before adding. "And by the way, I think you can call me Harry now..." he smiled gently at the other boy. Draco eyed him in a strange way, biting his bottom lip and nodding slowly. Harry then hastily proceeded to unbuckle Draco's trousers and pulled them down, not wanting to analyse the situation too much at that point. God, he'd been thinking about doing that for a while now and couldn't wait any longer. He started removing Draco's boxers deftly and unconsciously licked his lips.

That was it. He couldn't back away.

* * *

"Merlin, Harry, that was... God, that was brilliant!" Draco panted heavily, eyes half-closed. Harry looked at him fondly, then leaned down to kiss him, Draco caressing his hair tenderly. The blond suddenly seemed to remember something. "What about you? We have to take care of you now," he drawled, cupping Harry's hardness. Harry felt very grateful for that. God, he was in desperate need to come! He hastily undid his trousers and started pushing them down when he heard a soft knock on his door and a muffled voice calling his name.

He froze in place, looking at Draco with eyes wide open in shock.

_Ron_.

Oh shit, no. Not now!Harry thought desperately.

Draco was the first to react. He hurriedly cast a cleansing spell on himself, pulled his trousers and pants up in a swift movement and scrambled back on his feet. He grabbed his shoes and sweater and headed straight for the bathroom, closing it silently behind him.

Harry quickly came around and dressed again rapidly. He tried to conceal every trace of what they had just done, swiftly pulling the covers back on the bed. He then walked to the door, throwing a last look at the bathroom, before opening to his best friend. Harry ran his fingers in his hair rapidly, hoping sincerely he didn't look too ruffled.

Ron appeared on the doorstep. "Harry, mate, I'm so happy to see you!" Ron hugged him briefly, before hurriedly walking past him and sitting straight on the bed, where Harry had just been fooling around with his boyfriend.

_Shit_. Harry had imagined asking Ron to come back later but it was hard to do so now that his best friend was looking at him, visibly very happy to be there.

"We haven't had much time just the two of us lately, so I thought, you know, that I would come and catch up a bit."

Harry looked at him with a funny expression on his face and slowly closed the door. "Yeah, well..."

"So," started Ron. "Feeling better? I haven't had the chance to speak to you much since that day when you went to talk to Ginny and that was like a month ago!" he looked bewildered.

"Five weeks in fact," Harry corrected, mostly to himself.

"Oh, well, never mind. How are you?" he patted the space next to him on the bed, inviting him to sit down. Harry threw a quick glance at the bathroom door again and came to sit next to him.

"Well, I'm... good. I'm really feeling great now, thank you." Harry was indeed very grateful for what his two best friends had done, even if they had no idea what that had truly meant to him.

"Well, I'm really glad to see you're feeling better, mate!" Ron was beaming at him.

"What about you?" Harry inquired, wishing to change the subject. "How are you and Hermione doing together?" he smiled.

Ron blushed slightly and answered. "Well, things are going pretty well, we're... getting closer and closer every day, and I mean, not just in a physical way," he blushed "though that is a nice part but... it's really good, Harry, being so close to someone like that, I had no idea!" he replied in awe.

Harry swallowed hard and slightly turned to look at the bathroom door again, inwardly agreeing with Ron. God, yes, it did feel good! But then his face dropped. He couldn't even tell Ron that he knew exactly how he felt. He couldn't tell Ron how much he understood what he was going through, and he felt frustration creeping in inside of him. It was so unfair!

"Everything's alright, Harry?" Ron was looking at him with a slightly worried expression on his face.

"What? Yes, sure! I mean, I'm really happy for you two," he said quietly. "And I agree, it's pretty awesome to be so close to someone." The last words were almost whispered, as Harry was glancing at the bathroom door again.

This time, Ron followed his gaze and frowned. "Harry, are you... is there something you're not telling me?" Ron said slowly, looking at him hesitantly.

It was now or never. He could tell Ron right now, God, he wanted so badly to tell Ron right now, to share with his best friend how crazily happy he felt with Draco! It wasn't fair that the boy had to hide in his bathroom like that either, like Harry was somewhat ashamed to be with him, to be what he was, having to hide the man he was slowly falling for like he were not worthy of being acknowledged by his best friend.

Harry quickly made up his mind. Enough of all that. He would tell Ron. He felt Ron couldn't truly be his best friend anymore if Harry didn't share what he was deep inside and the feelings he had.

He cleared his throat, looked intensely into his best friend's eyes and cautiously said. "You're right. There _is_ something I'm not telling you and to be honest, I'm sick of hiding things from you." Harry dropped his gaze and fixed a spot on his trousers.

He felt Ron's hand on his knee. "Harry... I'm... your best friend right?"

Harry nodded. "Of course, Ron!"

"Well, I'm a bit gutted. Why would there be something you wouldn't tell me, I'm your best friend, no? Especially after all we've been through together."

Harry looked up at him, searching for his words. "Ron I'm _really_ sorry, but it's not been easy, believe me. It's been hard for me to realise... what was going on and by the time I'd started accepting it, well, things were happening fast and well, you were pretty busy too, with Hermione and all. But that's fine, don't worry! It's just that-"

"Harry, you're not making much sense, mate. Just tell me what's going on, you're really starting to worry me," Ron interrupted him, looking at him warmly.

Harry took a deep breath and looked right into Ron's eyes. "Right. Ron... I... I... ah... I'm..." Shit, that was hard! He enunciated the words a few times in his head before finally blurting them out. "Ron, I'm gay." There, he had said it out loud. He felt Ron's hand leaving his knee at once, like it had suddenly turned on fire. Harry closed his eyes in a pathetic attempt to protect himself from his friend's reaction. After a while, noticing nothing special had happened, he slowly opened his eyes and saw Ron gaping at him, frozen in place.

"Ron? _Ron?_" Shit.

"I can't believe it!" Ron finally said, looking at him with eyes wide open.

"I know," Harry replied sadly.

"No!" Harry was surprised at the indignant tone in his friend's voice. "No, I can't believe you wouldn't tell me something like that!"

"Look, I'm sorry, I know I should have told you about it before but-"

"Are you sure? I mean, how do you know that you're gay anyway? Because, it seems a bit sudden and unexpected to me!" Ron exclaimed. Harry couldn't help thinking that considering what he had been doing earlier and how much he had enjoyed doing it, yes, he was pretty sure he was gay, thank you very much. "Yeah, I mean, one day you're all lovey-dovey with my sister, I kind of give you my blessing and all and then the next day, you're suddenly gay? I'm sorry mate, but that doesn't make much sense to me." Ron said bewildered.

"Ron... I... I don't know what to say... I think I might have been like that from the very beginning but I just... I just didn't realize it at the time... I mean, I've never really been with girls. Remember how things were with Cho? It didn't turn out well... and I'm not sure she was the only one to blame! And with Ginny... well she's a gorgeous, lovely, smart girl, and I really liked being with her but... but I like being with boys more... It's just, I don't know, I know that I'm attracted to boys now, I like boys, I - "

"Right, right, okay, I get it," said Ron looking slightly put off. He paused, looking straight at Harry. "Wait a minute. Did you just say you liked being with boys?" he asked.

"I... yes, I did," replied Harry evasively, turning his head away.

"So, does that mean that... you've already been with one?" Ron said prudently.

"Well, as a matter of fact, I... yes, I have, but-"

"And you're still with one?" Ron insisted, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes, I am." Harry said, looking down.

"Wow... so you have like, a _boyfriend?_" Ron said looking at Harry like he couldn't believe it was true. "Merlin, you really are... gay then." It seemed to have just dawned on him.

"Well, yes, Ron, I-"

"Since when?" Ron interrupted him again. "Harry, how long have you had a boyfriend?" he blurted, still amazed.

Harry looked at him for a while and answered with a shy smile. "Three weeks."

"Three weeks..." repeated Ron, pondering something. The ginger's face changed all at once. He suddenly turned to Harry, a look of pure shock on his face, as he slowly put his hand on his mouth and uttered, "Oh no. No, Harry. Please tell me you didn't-"

"Ron..." Harry said feebly. That was it. The moment of truth Harry had been waiting for.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Harry, no!" Ron had almost shouted the last word and had stood with a start, looking at him with a look of horror on his face now. "Please Harry, _please_ don't tell me it's that arrogant piece of shit of _Malfoy?_"

Harry stood as well, blushing hard. He unconsciously glanced at the bathroom door.

Ron caught him looking at it again, opening his eyes wider -Harry didn't think it was even possible at that point - then looked back at Harry and at the bathroom door once more. He finally went straight for it and opened the door abruptly, revealing an impassive Draco, leaning nonchalantly against the wall.

"Evening, Weasley. Nice to see you here!" the blond sneered.

Ron took a step back, utterly shocked, gaping at Draco as the blond quietly went out of the bathroom and walked casually towards Harry.

"You should close your mouth, Weasley, the dead fish look is not much of an improvement on you," Draco snarled, leaning on one of the bed posts near Harry, folding his arms nonchalantly.

Harry sent him a disapproving look. It wasn't really the time to rub Ron the wrong way. Draco rolled his eyes but said nothing more.

Ron kept looking at the two of them in bewilderment, like he couldn't believe they were real.

Harry looked at his friend with a sorry look on his face. "Ron..."

The boy finally seemed to step out of his trance. "So that _is_ true? Malfoy really is your... your _boyfriend?_" Ron stammered, staring at him in disbelief.

Harry felt Draco wince at the word "boyfriend", but the blond remained surprisingly silent. Harry took a deep breath, wishing to explain himself. "Listen, Ron, I know it sounds crazy, but-"

"Crazy, Harry?" Ron interrupted him. "Crazy doesn't even start to describe how this whole situation is! Look, I don't give a fuck that you're gay, I mean, yeah, it's kind of weird when you think about it because obviously, I've never had any clue, but that's not the problem," Ron added, looking at Draco, a clear look of disgust on his face. "The problem is, _Malfoy_, Harry? That pompous, selfish, ex-Death Eater bastard, whose family has conveniently changed sides at the end of the war?" he said pointing at the blond.

"Hey! I'm standing right here!" Draco said petulantly.

Shit, of course Ron would freak out over Draco! He didn't know him like Harry did! He couldn't blame him to find the situation slightly over the top!

"Harry?" Ron tried again.

Draco and Ron were both staring at him now, waiting for him to say something.

"Look, Ron, I don't want you to freak out because..." he looked at Draco, "I'm really happy with him."

Draco looked at Ron with an amused expression on his face. "Well, what can I say? I'm utterly irresistible!" he gloated. Harry couldn't help nervously chuckling softly next to him.

"Oh come on Harry! _That_ guy? How can you be with someone like, like _him_?" the disgusted look was back on his face again. "Out of all the nice guys there are? I mean, _Draco Malfoy, _Harry?"

"Weasley..." Draco now growled menacingly.

Harry suddenly turned to Draco and asked him in a low voice. "Would you mind leaving us alone for a while?" Draco looked at him with an uncertain expression on his face.

"Are you sure about that? I mean he looks pretty pissed off, I wouldn't like to find tiny bits of Potter scattered all around the room when I come back!" he whispered.

"Nah, I'll be fine. I'll catch you up later."

"Well I certainly hope so!" he leaned to Harry's ear and murmured, "I haven't forgotten that your needs have not been dealt with yet..." he said, taking Harry's ear in his mouth and biting it gently. How Harry could still feel aroused in such an intense moment was beyond him. Draco then kissed him languorously on his lips, holding his hands in his, taking his time, making a show out of it in front of Ron who had turned scarlet at the intimate exchange and who was studiously avoiding looking at them.

"Are you finally done here, Malfoy?" Ron moodily said.

"Jealous, Weasley?" Draco said, turning to face him. "Well, I'm afraid I don't snog gingers, there's a limit to the greatness of my heart," he smirked, putting a last quick peck on Harry's lips. "Later!" he said and finally exited the room, shutting the door behind him, with a last look at Harry.

Ron turned to him again. "Care to explain, Harry?"

Harry sighed heavily. "Look, I don't know what to say. I know it's a huge shock to you, and I sincerely can't blame you for that. I mean, if anyone had told me even a few months ago that I would end up with Draco," he felt his friend cringe at the fact Harry had used his first name, "I would probably have beaten the crap out of them. But anyway, that's the way things are now..." he added, looking at his best friend again.

"But Harry, seriously! You're sure you remember who he is and what he did to you all those years? Has he Confunded you or done something to you that would explain why on earth you would go out with him? Harry? He's an ex-Death Eater for Merlin's sake! He was on Voldemort's side! His family tried to destroy us! Hell, his 'friends' killed my brother!" he was almost shouting now.

"I... I know, Ron, and I'm not trying to pretend any of this hasn't happened, believe me. I think about it all the time. Hell, I still have nightmares about it all," Harry said in a very soft voice. "But I also know he's changed, and that he's much more complex than we thought. It's always been more complicated than we thought with him. Look, he never denounced us at the Manor!" Ron was about to say something but Harry added quickly. "Ron, I like him, a lot, and... and I know exactly how you feel about Hermione, because that's how I feel about him. I'm happy, Ron, happier than I've been in months, hell, in years probably. And I don't want to lose that, nor do I want to lose you."

Ron looked at him for a long while. Harry could see he was torn. He didn't resent him for not understanding what was going on between Draco and him.

After a moment that felt to Harry like hours had passed, Ron walked the few steps separating them and searched his eyes.

After a while, he said. "Fine. If you're sure you know what you're doing, I'm fine. I mean I'm not thrilled, very far from it, and I still can't believe it, but, you're right, I'm your friend, your best friend, and I don't want to lose you either." He hesitated for a moment and then said, "oh, fuck it!" and hugged him hard.

Harry felt like a huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders. His head was spinning lightly at the thought that, even if Ron still loathed Draco, he was ready to accept Harry the way he was and remain his friend. Ron broke the embrace and looked at him with a funny expression on his face, his hands still resting on Harry's arms.

"Harry... You've never... I mean, you know, you've never considered, I mean... You and me..."

Harry caught was he was insinuating. "Oh God, no, Ron! I promise! I never thought about you like that! You're like my brother, mate, it would be too weird!" he replied.

"Right, I suspected that, but I still had to check, you know... So, basically, best mates and brothers are out of the question, but arch enemies are alright then?" he joked. Harry was laughing heartily now. "Ah well. It's so good to have you back, mate!"

They hugged again and then left for the common room. Harry was feeling incredibly lightheaded and couldn't stop grinning all the way down.

* * *

**A/N: Please let me know what you think!**


	11. Harry Potter is my boyfriend

**Chapter 11 – Harry Potter is my boyfriend**

* * *

**A/N****: This is the edited version of chapter 11. You can find the unedited version on AO3 or LJ (links in my profile!) **

**Warning****: smitten!Draco ahead! (yes, it deserves a warning.)**

* * *

"So, the Weasel took it pretty well, in the end!"

"Hey, stop calling him that! He's my best friend!" Harry's tone was indignant.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Right, so what did he say?"

"Well, basically, he's absolutely not thrilled about my choice of partner, but he is willing to make an effort for our friendship's sake."

"Well, that's so generous of him!" Draco snarled. "Does that mean that I'll have to get all cosy with him from now on?"

"You're an idiot! Of course not, you don't have to do anything special. Besides, very few people know about us so…"

"Does Granger know?"

"No. I haven't really found the right time or place to tell her yet."

"You afraid of her reaction?"

"Well, no, it was Ron's I was the most worried about. Hermione is more… understanding, I would say."

"So why don't you tell her then?"

"I will… just, not now."

"Right, so, let's see… how many people know about us, then? You just told the Weasel," Harry sent him a dark look, "right, _Weasley_, and on my side, Blaise figured it out."

"He did?" Harry looked slightly worried. "How did he figure it out?"

"Well, apparently we've been ogling at each other quite a lot during classes, so…"

"Merlin, we were that obvious?" The worried look was back on Harry's face.

"Well, I denied it at first, but then, I thought it didn't really matter much after all."

"Bloody hell… is this going to be a problem that he knows about us?"

"No, I don't think so. I'm sure he won't say anything. We've known each other forever and I've never hidden any of the boyfriends I've had before so…"

"Right. So that makes one friend of mine and one of yours. Oh! And Ginny, of course!" Harry said sheepishly.

"Right… Girl Weasley..." Draco trailed off.

"Do you think anybody else suspects?"

"No. I don't see why anybody would. We're not exactly friendly with each other outside of the bedroom."

"True." Harry pondered something. "Do all of your friends know that you're… that you like boys?"

"Well, not really. Pansy knows, of course, which doesn't prevent her from trying to jump me on every single occasion, and obviously Theo knows, although, he can hardly been considered a friend…" Harry winced at the mention of Draco's ex-boyfriend.

"What about Goyle?" Draco's sidekick had unsurprisingly not returned to Hogwarts to complete his studies.

"No. I don't think Goyle ever suspected anything. I was never that close to him, you know."

"Really? But you were always together along with Crabbe!" Harry's voice trailed off as he suddenly remembered how Draco's friend had suffered this horrible death in the Room of Requirement.

"Yeah…"

"Oh, Draco, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"That's fine, Potter. Let's not talk about that right now."

"Right." Harry took another bit of his sandwich. They had been returning to that empty classroom near the Astronomy Tower a few times recently, needing a change of scenery, and finding it less risky to meet there rather than always having to use the Cloak to reach Harry's bedroom. Harry had stopped by the kitchen and grabbed a few sandwiches for them to share while practically everyone else was in Hogsmeade. Harry and Draco had decided to stay behind, in order to spend time together. After all, there was going to be another Hogsmeade weekend in a couple of weeks for their Christmas shopping. Harry had told his friends he wasn't feeling well, while Draco had said he needed to work in the library for his Potions essay, not that the friends who knew about them bought the feeble excuses they had sold them.

"So, what are your plans for the holidays, then, Potter?"

"_Harry_, Draco, call me Harry."

"All right, _Harry_, what are your plans?"

"Well, I certainly won't go back to my uncle and aunt's, so I guess I'll spend Christmas at the Weasley's."

"Really? Why won't you go and spend Christmas with your family?" Draco looked surprised.

"Well, let's say they are not exactly the kind of people I'd like to spend Christmas with if I can avoid it, so…"

"And why is that?" Draco looked utterly confused.

Harry shrugged. "Basically Christmas at the Dursley's meant starving, locked up in my bedroom while they feasted downstairs on turkey and mash."

Draco frowned. "How come you weren't having dinner with them?"

Harry sighed. "It's a long story, Draco."

"Well, we have all the time in the world, I'm listening." And with these words, Draco pushed the food aside, leaned against the wall and nestled Harry in between his legs, encircling him from behind with his arms.

"Right. Let's say that my mother's family has never been thrilled with all that had to do with the Wizarding World, to the point that they pretended it didn't even exist."

"No way! What are they, complete idiots?"

"My uncle is a very narrow-minded person and the moment he married my aunt Petunia, he made her cut any link with her own sister, and my Dad. To him, people like us are just freaks." Draco tilted his head to look at him with a weird look on his face. Harry went on. "However, when my parents…" he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again, feeling Draco holding him tighter, "when my parents were killed, they had no other choice but to take me with them. They were the only blood-related family I had left and Dumbledore thought it was better at the time to have me raised by Muggles rather than in the Wizarding World."

"Okay… but that doesn't explain why you couldn't have dinner with them?" Draco frowned again.

"Draco… they didn't want me to live with them. I was a constant reminder of that world they were desperately trying to deny even existed. And there I was, with my stupid scar, doing stupid things I didn't even understand, because, of course, they never told me what I was, and they were scared, and pathetic, and wanted me out of their sight… They were forced to take me in, so they made me pay for it."

"How?" Harry could feel Draco was getting tenser by the minute.

"Well, for one thing, before Hagrid barged into my life, I didn't… I didn't have my own room, they were making me sleep in the cupboard under the stairs…"

"They did what?" Draco made Harry turn around to look at him. "They did what?" he repeated.

"Yeah… but it got better, after Hagrid's, er, intervention, I got to have my own bedroom," he quickly added.

Draco was looking at him with his eyes wide open. "What else?" he said dryly. "What else did they do to you?" he seethed.

"Hey, that's all right, Draco, that's all in the past now!"

"Tell me. What else did you have to go through with them?"

"I… I had to do different chores in the house, like cleaning up, and cooking…"

"Merlin, you're not a bloody house-elf!" Draco muttered.

"And, well, I didn't have anything that truly belonged to me. I didn't even have my own clothes, I had to wear my cousin Dudley's and he was rather on the fat-side…"

"God, Harry, I had no idea…" Draco murmured in his ear.

"That's fine, Draco, don't worry. That's all in the past, now, and I don't have to see them ever again, okay?"

"Right. But they'd better never cross my path, or I will show them how to treat you." Harry smiled, flattered by Draco's protectiveness, although he didn't comment on it.

"What about you? You're going to spend Christmas at the… at home?" it was still hard for Harry to pronounce the name of the Malfoy's huge mansion, after all that had happened the last – and only - time he had been there.

"Well, yes. We're going to celebrate the fact that none of us has died or been sent to Azkaban," Draco said bitterly.

"Draco…"

"That's fine, Harry. I know I'm really lucky that things turned out the way they did for my family. And I know you're the one who made sure it happened, by testifying for my parents and myself, and I'm really grateful for that."

"Well, I'm happy I did… your mother lied to Voldemort about me in the Forbidden Forest, and thus allowed me to go back to the castle and resume the fighting. Your father's hands-on collaboration with the Ministry helped them catch the remaining Death Eaters… As for you… well, you deserved a second chance. You were only a kid… and you didn't denounce us at the Manor… By the way… why didn't you? You never answered me when I asked you in the Room of Requirement?"

"I… I don't know… I suppose I was terrified. I knew what the Dark L-, _Voldemort_ was capable of, and I guess I… I don't know, I can't really explain it, it just felt like the right thing to do at the time," Draco shrugged.

"Well, that was very brave of you," Harry turned to look at him and stroked his cheek with his fingers.

"I don't regret it one second…" Draco whispered, placing a delicate kiss on Harry's lips.

"Me neither…"

The kiss soon intensified, and they got lost in their embrace. After a while, Harry broke the kiss.

"Wanna go upstairs?" he said with a grin.

"Hell, yeah!" Draco replied.

They vanished the food and the blanket and hurried to the West Tower.

* * *

It was the beginning of December, and Blaise Zabini was comfortably sitting on the sofa facing the fireplace in the eighth year common room which was almost empty at that time of day. Pansy was cuddling against him, a habit she'd taken long ago, when he had briefly dated her at an age when going out with girls, or at least thinking about it, was taking most of the boy's time and energy.

She was a funny girl. Sure she was loud and had terrible manners but she was a truly loyal friend. Few people knew that she also was a very insecure girl, and that her jibes and big mouth were just a way for her to cover up her vulnerability. She had always admired Draco, and the night of the Yule Ball in fourth year had probably been one of the best of her life. She had been allowed to be his princess for the night, deluding herself that he could one day be her prince. However, she had long realised that Draco would never be hers. It broke her heart but she remained faithfully by his side. Blaise sincerely hoped that she would one day find the right man for her.

He felt her suddenly tense next to him. She elbowed him hard in his ribs and he turned to her, slightly annoyed.

"Ouch! Pansy! What's wrong with you?" he asked her loudly.

"Sshh Blaise! Look!"

He followed her gaze, intrigued. His eyes stopped on Theo. He frowned. The boy looked unusually nervous. He was fidgeting uncomfortably on his seat, watching the entrance of the common room restlessly, unable to focus his attention on the book in front of him. He stopped all at once when Draco entered the common room and he stared at him, suddenly frozen in place.

The boy had been the shadow of his old self since his break-up with Draco. True, he had never been the life of the party, but he looked positively distraught these days, not interacting with anyone at all anymore. Blaise knew how Draco could be with his ex-boyfriends. He was always amazed at how so many boys would fall for the blond only to fall harder when he considered they were no fun anymore. But with Theo it had been different. The two boys had been dating for quite a long time and Theo had told Blaise that Draco had been his first boyfriend. It must have been particularly hard for him to be dismissed from one day to the next without further notice.

The frail boy was observing Draco's every move. He watched him as he joined Pansy and Blaise on the sofa.

"Alright, Draco?" Pansy purred, leaving Blaise's embrace at once to slouch on the blond's lap, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Ouch, Pansy! Better take it easy on the Chocolate Frogs!" he snarled, pushing her away.

Pansy somehow managed to keep her grip on him. "So, Draco," she went on, ignoring his nasty comment, "it looks like your boyfriend's not completely over you. You should have seen him when you entered the room. I thought he was going to have a stroke!" she looked at Theo again.

Draco sighed, "He's not my boyfriend anymore. He's just a tiny annoying memory from my past. I'd like to focus on something else, now, if you don't mind," he answered dryly.

"You mean, on Potter's arse?" Blaise replied, slightly amused.

Draco sent him a murderous look. Pansy opened her eyes wide. "Potter? Draco?" She looked at the boy in shock now.

"Shhh! Are you two trying to get me in trouble?" Draco scowled.

"But, Draco-" Pansy started. She was stopped in her tracks by the sudden presence of Theo above them. Pansy flashed him a smile and Blaise felt Draco tense slightly. To add to the confusion, Potter had now entered the room and was observing the scene with an indecipherable expression on his face.

Draco noticed him and the two exchanged a knowing look, Potter nodding imperceptibly to the blond. He then headed for the stairs leading to his room and disappeared from view. Draco turned his attention back to the boy standing before them.

He finally said, in a harsh tone. "What do you want, Theodore?" insisting on the last syllable of the boy's name.

"I... can we go and talk somewhere... in private?"

Blaise felt sincerely sorry for the poor guy. Merlin, he had no idea that once Draco had decided he was done with someone, there was absolutely no chance of anything ever happening again between them. Not only that, but Blaise knew perfectly well that Draco despised any kind of weakness in people, and that once they had showed him any, he'd be willing to crush the poor fellows without a second thought.

Draco considered him for a second, a strange look on his face. "No."

"But... I'm... fuck, Draco! Why won't you even just listen to me? I... I just want to talk, Draco, please!" It was starting to be a tad embarrassing. Blaise could see the poor guy was desperate to get Draco back and was abandoning every ounce of self-esteem to get what everybody but him knew he would never have ever again.

"No, I'm done with you. You've had your chance, now leave me the fuck alone," Draco spat contemptuously.

There was a sudden shift in the boy's expression as he sported a dangerous look.

"Fine. But it doesn't end there, Draco," the boy said menacingly. "You've played with me but I won't let myself be treated the way you did anymore. I will make you pay for what you did to me," he seethed.

Draco rose up slowly, an amused smirk on his face. "Oooh, now I'm scared, terrified even! Blaise, please hold my hand, I'm shaking so badly!" Draco mocked him.

Theo was fuming now. Blaise decided to do something before things turned uglier. He stood between the two boys and gently drove Theo away from Draco. He pushed him away in the direction of the exit. Theo let Blaise take him away. "I'll get back to you! You'd better watch your back from now on!" he spat before Blaise took him out of the common room.

* * *

Pansy had followed Draco all the way up to his bedroom. When he had seemed to realise she really intended to get in, he had looked at her and sighed deeply, rolling his eyes before finally opening his door to her. It was always their little game: he pretended to be annoyed by her presence while always letting her in in the end.

Pansy felt highly privileged every time Draco allowed her in his room, knowing that absolutely nobody else, not even Blaise, was tolerated in his retreat. It had nothing special: it was an ordinary room but it was Draco's private space, his haven of peace, the place where he could be himself without restraint.

The blond was now lying on his bed, hands resting under his head, while she was sitting at the other end of it, slouched on one of the bed posts.

She turned to him, a huge satisfied grin on her face.

"Soooo?" she cooed.

"Soooo what, Pansy?" Draco mimicked her.

"Is it true, then?" she beamed. "Potter, really?"

Draco sighed. "Of course it is, what do you think?" he snapped.

"Wow, but it's... it's huge!" Pansy replied in awe.

"You have no idea..." Draco said mischievously, rising an eyebrow.

Pansy laughed heartily. "Draco! You perv!" she exclaimed, slapping him on his leg. "Is it, really?"

"Like I'm going to tell you! I don't want you to fantasise about him!" he winked at her, a playful look on his face.

"Well, you must be a very happy boy, then!" she said thoughtfully, "and so is he..." she murmured almost to herself.

Pansy had been fighting her feelings for him for years. She knew Draco could never be hers, she knew he had nothing more than his friendship to offer and yet, she couldn't help being desperately in love with him.

She sighed heavily. "Why must all the cute ones be gay!" she whined.

"Well, not _all_ of them, Pansy. One day you'll find the man of your dreams. A very cute, very straight _and_ very mental guy who will be crazy enough to fall in love with you!" Draco smirked.

"I've already found the man of my dreams," she sighed heavily, "but he doesn't want me..." she said sadly, tracing invisible patterns with her fingers on Draco's ankle.

He rolled his eyes again. "Pansy... we've talked about that a million times! You know perfectly well that nothing will ever happen between you and me! I could never love you the way you'd want me to," he replied impatiently.

She sighed. "I know... but a girl can dream, right?" she said feebly.

"Well, dreams are not reality, Pansy. This is real life. And real life sucks," he added with a scowl. "I am not in love with you and I never will. Get over it once and for all," he retorted.

She was, once again, deeply hurt by his harsh words. He had always known which buttons to push to get to her. She hated him for that. But at the same time, she couldn't help being irresistibly attracted to him. Maybe it simply was the whole I-fancy-what-I-can't-get thing. Anyway, it didn't matter much. In the end, it always made her suffer.

God, why did it have to be so hard? It was driving her crazy to think that nothing could ever happen between them, it was so unfair; they were such a perfect match! Draco knew her like no one else. He knew what she was deep inside, insecurities and all. And it was the same for him. She knew his deepest secrets, things no one else ever suspected. But that wasn't enough. She felt a lump form in her throat and knew that tears weren't far.

There was a soft knock on the door. They both jumped in surprise and looked at each other. Draco frowned. Pansy hastily got on her feet and went for the door.

She opened it and faced the boy she had despised for so many years, the boy she had tried to turn over to the Dark Lord during the war, the boy she had been carefully avoiding ever since, the boy who was apparently her best friend's boyfriend now, against all odds. She didn't know how Draco would react to the intrusion so she turned to him expectantly.

He sat still in his bed, looking hesitant.

Potter was the first to talk. "I...er, wanted to... but I can come back later on if you're... I mean..."

"That's fine, Potter, you can come in," Draco said, standing up.

Pansy was taken aback by Draco's decision. Was he really letting the boy in? _Wow_... things must be much more serious than what she had expected between them.

"Right, I was about to leave anyway," Pansy said, turning to Draco. "I'll talk to you later," she crossed the room and put a light kiss on his cheek, murmuring swiftly in his ear, "have fun!" and left the room.

As soon as she heard the door lock behind her, silent tears started creeping up her eyes and running along both of her cheeks. She ran more than walked back to her room, crashed on her bed, buried her head in the pillows, and cried restlessly, feeling so desperately lonely.

* * *

Draco was lying down, eyes on the canopy of his four-poster bed, utterly exhausted after another intense session of sexual activity with Harry. Exhausted, but at the same time on some kind of a high. Yeah, that was it. He felt almost ecstatic, something that had never happened to him ever before. He certainly never felt this way with Theo. With his fellow Slytherin, Draco would think about nothing else than his own pleasure. He would meet the boy, kiss him once or twice for good measure, get in bed with him, shag him senseless and then leave right after, barely noticing if the boy had come or not and not caring about it for one second.

With Harry, it was different. For one thing, they had not had proper sex yet, which was kind of weird since usually, Draco would be pretty impatient to get there. It was not that Draco didn't want nor didn't think about it. Merlin, no! He was thinking about it constantly, hell, he was even dreaming about it! It was just that for once, Draco wanted to take his time, to do things well. He didn't know why, nor what was different, but it was. It really was and it felt strangely good.

Unlike what was happening with Theo as well, was the fact that Draco actually stayed with Harry afterwards, and they had long and sometimes passionate discussions. To his utter surprise, he realised that he almost liked that part more than the sex part. True, this time, he didn't really have a choice, since he was in his own bedroom and couldn't simply leave the boy there, but he'd had the same feeling during the last few weeks, whenever they had spent time in Harry's room, which they had done quite a lot lately.

Draco didn't really know what had pushed him to accept the boy in his room either. It had been a spur of the moment kind of decision, but it hadn't bothered him, not at all. It had felt incredibly natural, like the fact that Potter was crossing the threshold of his bedroom was something as insignificant as Slughorn teaching them something boring.

Harry was asleep next to him and Draco propped himself up on his elbow to observe him. He really enjoyed looking at the boy when he was completely oblivious to it. Hell, not just _looking_, but really _staring_. It sounded a bit creepy, but it was an undeniable fact. He couldn't keep his eyes away from the boy's angelic face. It was the only times he could get a proper look at his – what would he call him? – lover? boyfriend? boyfriend… yeah, that sounded okay, hell, not only okay, but pretty good even. _Harry Potter is my boyfriend_, he said several times in his head, and decided that it definitely didn't feel weird or embarrassing but that he rather very much liked the sound of it.

"Harry Potter is my boyfriend," he said once more, out loud this time, the words warming his insides.

A huge grin suddenly formed on Harry's mouth and he slowly opened his eyes. He then positioned himself right in front of Draco and gently murmured, "Draco Malfoy is my boyfriend."

The boy then reached his mouth and took Draco in a long, slow and loving kiss which made the butterflies in his stomach flutter crazily. Draco cupped Harry's head in his free hand and intensified the kiss, fighting his way inside the boy's mouth, caressing every corner of it with his tongue, soon pushing him down and resting on top of him.

They started moving against each other in a rocking motion that was soon getting more urgent and needy. Harry was writhing under him, making beautiful tortured sounds, eyes filled with lust and it suddenly all became too much when Draco realised with a jolt that _he_ was the one provoking these incredible reactions in the other boy, that _he_ was the one driving this boy, his _boyfriend_, crazy.

Harry was arching his back, eyes rolling up in his head, and Draco's whole world seemed to be reduced to that small spot on his bed where the two boys were now panting heavily, completely consumed, and his head was spinning fast as he felt so thoroughly and ridiculously elated.


	12. Quidditch and other serious matters

**Chapter 12 - Quidditch and other serious matters**

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**A/N: Thank you for your reviews, favs and follows! :)**

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Draco was literally freezing his arse off. His fingers felt numb from the cold in his fingerless leather gloves, and he kept blowing on them to try to get them warmer, having tried to cast a warming spell without much success.

It was a stupid idea. A dumb, idiotic, and ridiculous idea.

Quidditch.

In December.

Against bloody Potter.

Again.

Like he had not been ridiculed enough over the years, never managing even once to catch the fricking snitch before the boy. Plain stupid. At least this time, there wouldn't be a whole cheering crowd witnessing it.

Of course, the idea had been Harry's. Draco would never have had such an inane thought. But the boy had insisted, had looked at him with a stupid grin on his face, almost begging him, and then, had raised an eyebrow.

"Scared maybe, Draco?"

"Sc-, What?"

"Yeah, after all, you've never managed to catch the Snitch against me before, so you're maybe scared to lose again?" he had said casually.

Draco had literally walked into that one. He had rolled his eyes and answered with a dry, "Not on your life!" to Harry, before taking him hastily to the Quidditch changing rooms.

The returning eighth years could no longer play Quidditch with the regular teams, but the previous players had exceptionally been allowed to keep a locker with their uniforms and brooms there, should they want to fly. Draco had not been flying at all this year though, his mind not really being into flying anymore. He had not ridden his broom for ages. He had started losing interest in the whole thing back in sixth year. Being branded with the Dark Mark over the summer and plotting to kill your Headmaster would easily do that to you.

And now, here he was on a freezing Saturday morning of December, sitting on his broom in the snow, teeth chattering like mad, all clad in his green and silver Quidditch uniform, waiting for Potter to get the practice Snitch ready. Since they were not going to play a full game of Quidditch, the Snitch had to be charmed in order to work properly without the presence of the Quaffle and the Bludgers. Charming it also meant that the little golden ball would fly right through the air whenever the two boys were ready, so that they wouldn't have to wait for it to propel itself on its own.

"Potter, before tomorrow would be nice!" he seethed, his breath leaving a trail in the cool air.

"Coming! Just want to make sure I've done it well. I wouldn't want you to claim you've lost because I hadn't spelled the snitch properly!" he snorted cheekily.

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Right. As if. I'm going to catch that snitch faster than you can say... hey!" Draco couldn't finish his sentence. The boy had released the snitch and shot off in the air, laughing his arse off. Bastard! Draco kicked the ground hard and bolted after him.

He leaned forward on his broom, gaining speed as he was trying to catch up with Harry. The cold air was hitting his face hard, wickedly insinuating under his robes, and tears were forming in his eyes, but he didn't care. He had to catch the goddamn thing. He had to beat Harry. No, _Potter_. He had to beat Potter. There were no more Draco and Harry on the Quidditch pitch, just Potter and Malfoy all over again.

The view of the grounds all covered in snow was breathtaking, but Draco didn't pay much attention to it, focusing only on his ex-rival. He was soon gaining momentum, getting closer to the boy, and saw Potter glance over his shoulder and laugh again. Draco couldn't help but smile at the very content expression on Potter's face. He put on another burst of speed, catching up slowly but surely.

They were flying like their lives depended on it now, the wind howling in Draco's ears, as they were both moving faster, their movements elegant and fluid after years of practice. Draco started to relax a bit and truly enjoy the ride. It felt good being back here. He realised now how much he had missed it.

Potter suddenly took a sharp turn and gained speed again, his eyes never leaving the tiny golden ball and getting closer by the minute. Draco managed to follow suit and then slightly veered off course, which allowed him to finally catch up with him before pulling alongside the boy. Without really thinking, he shoved Potter hard on the shoulder with his right hand.

"Hey!" Potter's tone was indignant. He swayed slightly before righting himself straight on his broom again.

"That's for not playing fair, Potter!" Draco snarled.

"Pissed off at having been out-Slytherined, then, Malfoy?" Harry replied, looking very proud of himself, a stupid lopsided grin on his face.

"You wish, Potter!" and he took up speed again, leaving the boy behind for the first time.

He felt a sudden rush of elation flood all over him, taking him completely by surprise. He realised he was sporting an indelible smile on his face now, revelling in the utter joy of soaring over the Quidditch pitch like that. It simply felt amazing: the speed, the rush of adrenalin, the race in itself, and simply being there with Harry, sharing this moment, just the two of them on that clear winter morning. The whole thing felt incredibly good.

And suddenly something dawned on him. Despite all he had done, despite the fact that he had hurt many people, despite having been an utter coward in the face of adversity and despite having been a bloody Death Eater, Potter was here with him today, voluntarily spending time with him and Draco was enjoying himself more than he had in years.

And that's precisely when it hit Draco. He stopped dead in the air at the thought, observing the boy giving all he had in pursuit of the Snitch. Just like that, it hit him. He was finally seeing it all very clearly now. He had tried to take things very casually with Potter but he realised how utterly in denial he had been those last few weeks, heck, probably those last few years.

Potter wasn't just a fling. No, not Potter, Harry. Harry wasn't just a stupid fling. He wasn't Theo. He wasn't there just to pass the time.

He felt slightly dizzy at his own incapacity at seeing the obvious. How could he not have read the goddamn signs?

The way the butterflies fluttered crazily in his stomach whenever Harry was around.

How he was constantly looking for him every time they were separated, physically missing the boy.

How the first thing on his mind when he woke up was Harry… Hell, he even counted the hours he had to wait for their daily meet-ups in Harry's room or his!

Shit, even that! The fact he had let Harry in his room, God, he should have known! Draco felt a cold sweat running down his forehead when it hit him again. Deep inside, he had always known it. It had always been Harry. It had happened. He had stupidly fallen in love.

Shit. How on earth did something like that happen? He thought he had done all he could to avoid such a ridiculous situation. He had even dismissed the whole thing as totally irrelevant when Blaise had suggested it might happen.

But the truth was, he had let himself fall for the boy. To his defence, he had been rejected so badly since the end of the war by so many people, old family friends who didn't want to do anything with the Malfoys anymore, or even random people who would insult them whenever they strolled Diagon Alley that the fact that someone, and not anyone, Harry _bloody_ Potter at that, had wanted him had made him let his guard down completely.

He couldn't let himself be smitten with someone like that. He couldn't let himself bear any weaknesses, and being in love was the biggest of all. What if he got hurt? What if the boy was just having fun with him and didn't care about him at all? What if the whole thing had just been a ploy to make fun of him, and tear him to pieces, to make him pay for all his misdeeds?

No. Draco had to stop the whole thing at once. He had to break things up with Harry before it all went completely out of control.

He snapped out of his reverie as Harry stopped right beside him and he remembered the reason he was up here in the sky in the first place. Harry was looking at him intently, holding the snitch in his right hand, his hair ruffled and his cheeks flushed, smiling. He was incredibly cute.

Draco looked at him with a serious expression on his face as the boy planted the snitch right under his nose, sporting a victorious grin and said, "And Potter wins again!" but Draco said nothing. Harry was now losing his beautiful smile and searching Draco's face, looking slightly worried. Draco wanted so bad to erase the frown forming on his boyfriend's face with a deep kiss, and run his hands all over his body. But he couldn't. Not anymore.

Without a word, he bolted back down and soon landed with a thud by the changing rooms, Potter on his heels.

"Draco, wait!"

He was now walking fast towards the lockers and put his broom away. He heard Potter dismiss his in a corner of the room and run to him. Draco felt the boy's hands on his as he started to take his leather gloves off. He shook them off him, and threw his gloves and arm guards on the bench, avoiding Harry's gaze at all cost.

"Draco?" Harry was saying again. "Draco, come on, answer me! What is wrong with you all of the sudden? Is this something I have said? Or done? Come on Draco, what the hell is wrong?" The boy grabbed him by his elbow and forced him to look at him. A thousand different emotions passed between them.

"What is it, Draco?" Harry said again gently.

Draco looked at him for a long time, afraid he would surrender to the other boy. God, how stupid he had been! His father had been teaching him for years to not let his feelings overwhelm him, to never get close to anyone, and that if he ever were to come close to people, it would only be to gain information and use it against them when needed.

And Draco hadn't listened. Draco had done exactly the contrary. He had stupidly let himself fall in love with none other than his long-time enemy, the boy who had made his life at Hogwarts miserable, the boy who had made fun of him and treated him like he was no one, the boy who had sent his father to Azkaban, which had been the beginning of his family's downfall.

Because of this boy, he had spent two years being terrified.

Because of this boy, he had been sent out to kill Dumbledore.

Because of this boy, his parents had nearly got killed.

How on earth could he have forgotten about all that? How on earth could he have imagined for one second that this could work? How on earth could he have let himself fall for the bloody prat like that? How?

But then Harry was looking at him, and his eyes held all the answers.

"Draco…" Harry was saying softly now, gently stroking his cheek, and Draco closed his eyes, feeling tears forming in his eyes. "That's alright, Draco, I'm here."

"Wh- why? Why are you here?" Draco managed to say after a while, despite the huge lump in his throat.

"What?"

Draco opened his eyes and asked menacingly. "Why are you here, Potter? Why are you with me?" he seethed, tears in his eyes, stepping closer to Harry who swallowed hard, a flicker of uncertainty passing through his eyes before he quickly regained his composure.

"What do you mean, why am I with you? I'm with you because I care about you, a lot!" Harry didn't seem to understand the battle that was taking place inside Draco's head.

"But how, Harry, how?" Draco insisted. "How on earth can someone like you stand to be with... with someone like... like me? How, Harry? How can you even stand the sight of me? With all I've put you through?" Draco was feeling anger mixed with all his insecurities creeping up insidiously inside of him. "I wake up every single fucking morning wondering how on earth would someone like you want to do anything with some filthy shit like me. So how, Harry, how?" he felt the boy wince at that, but didn't give him a chance to speak.

"I plotted to kill Dumbledore, I nearly killed several other people, including your best friend, I represent all you've been fighting against for fuck's sake! I AM A DEATH EATER!" and with these last words, he pulled on his sleeve hard, almost tearing it out in the process, revealing the ugly mark. "Look at it closely, Harry, LOOK AT IT! _This_ is what I am, _this_ is what people see when they look at me! _This_ is what I will have to live with all my life! That's me! Now look at me and tell me it doesn't matter to you!" he was screaming his head off now, his face contorted with anger.

Harry wasn't moving at all. He looked like he was frozen in place. And suddenly, he did something Draco wasn't expecting at all.

He closed his eyes.

It unsettled Draco like nothing else could have. He calmed down instantly and stared at Harry's beautiful face, with his fine features and his strong jaw and stayed like that, transfixed. After a while, Harry slowly opened his eyes, and reached Draco's face with a tentative hand, soon gently stroking his cheek, never leaving his eyes, soothing Draco like he never would have thought possible. It was Draco's turn to close his eyes now.

"Draco…" Harry murmured, his voice so gentle and so… full of love it made Draco shiver. "I... you are worth so much more than you give yourself credit for… You don't see yourself the way I do… You're very far from perfect, and you're right, I've hated the sight of you for years, but now, I'm done with the hating… I know there's so much more to you than what you show the world… You're a funny, very bright and caring man, and I'm the one who feels lucky to have landed someone like you, I'm the one who wakes up every morning wondering how on earth I could be so lucky as to be with you. I know what you did, and I'm not trying to diminish it, or pretend it didn't happen, but I want to look forward, not back," he paused.

"Draco, never in my entire life have I ever felt so happy… and that's all thanks to you… you make me truly, deeply, incredibly happy… I want to be with you all the time, Draco, I want to spend days in your arms, I want to get to know you even more than I already do, share things with you, shit, Draco, I…" he paused, and Draco opened his eyes, an expectant look on his face. "Draco, I love you…" Harry said in a breath, and then kissed him lightly on his lips.

A violent shiver ran through Draco's spine at Harry's powerful words. He knew he shouldn't let that happen, that it was wrong, but it felt so incredibly right at the moment that Draco was soon lost in the kiss again and was breathing in Harry's scent, and God, as the kiss became more intense, he craved for more, wanting to be so much closer to the boy, to feel him thoroughly and drown himself inside him…

He felt dizzy again and broke the kiss, letting himself fall on the bench with a heavy sigh. His sleeve was still up and the Dark Mark still very visible on his forearm, and he turned his head away, unwilling to look at it one more second.

Harry sat next to him and cupped his chin, making him look in his eyes once more. He knew what the boy wanted now, and he knew he deserved an explanation. He had waited long enough, and Harry had been brave enough to pronounce the three words he himself was unable to say, not that he didn't mean them, because, God, he did, but because he simply couldn't find it in himself to utter them out loud for now.

Harry looked down at Draco's left forearm, and Draco sighed heavily.

"I… I don't know where to start…" he said in a hesitant voice.

"That's okay, Draco, just, tell me whatever you feel ready to share."

Draco nodded and took a deep breath. "When my father was sent to Azkaban at the end of our fifth year, I was completely distraught. Suddenly, I had lost my anchor, my role model, the person I admired the most. My father was - is - everything to me, Harry. He had always been strong, proud and fiercely unafraid of anything, and suddenly, he wasn't there anymore. I had to take over his role and lead the house, and take care of my mother… I was barely sixteen, Harry…"

"Draco-"

"That's fine, my father deserved it. I know that now, even though it's obviously more complicated than that. But I hated you. God, I hated you! I hated you so much for sending him to Azkaban, for making my life so hard and miserable, while you were getting all the glory and praise from everyone again. You even dared call him a scumbag in my face… God, how I hated you. I was so utterly blinded by hatred and rage!" Draco paused, afraid he had already said too much, but he couldn't seem to stop now it all finally was in the open. The boy remained quiet, allowing him to continue. "I know how you feel about my father, Harry, but despite what you think, he's not a bad man. He's made terrible choices, and his motivations have not always been noble, but he is a good man deep inside, believe me, and he is my father. This will never change."

"I... I'm sorry Draco but I don't think I could ever see your father the way...the way you see him. There are too many hard feelings between us..."

"But won't you ever try?"

"I don't know, Draco, I honestly don't know. I can't promise you anything right now. But please, go on."

"Right. I was raised, as you know, in a family that values power and money and let me tell you, I am a Malfoy through and through in that regard: I like power, and I like money, although I'm not sure these two things really matter much now. The difference between my father and I though, is that I don't place them above everything else," Draco said matter-of-factly.

"All my life, I've been surrounded by people who believed in blood purity, who told me that Blood-traitors, Muggle-borns and Muggles were the enemy, and that the Wizarding world would be much better off without them. I believed in all that, Harry. I was a child, and never got to get a glimpse at what the other side's views on the subject were. I hadn't been taught to think much by myself."

"I know, Draco," and Harry gently took his hand in his, stroking it gently with his thumb, tracing delicate patterns on the back of it.

"I didn't want the goddam Mark. I mean, at first I had been stupidly proud to have been 'chosen' by the Dark Lord to accomplish such an important task. I was an arrogant prat, and I couldn't even see I was being manipulated. My mother felt it right away though, and tried to warn me. She knew straight away it was a way for the Dark Lord to punish my father for his failure to retrieve the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries. But I wasn't listening; I was so full of myself! And the Dark Lord knew I was an idiot. God, how stupid I have been!"

Harry wasn't saying anything. He was just listening and stroking Draco's hand gently.

Draco closed his eyes and went on. "I was Marked on the 7th of July, the summer before our sixth year. That day will forever remain in my mind as the beginning of the end. I was branded like some piece of cattle in the parlour of my own house." His eyes were clenched tightly now.

"And it hurt. God, it hurt like hell. I was screaming my head off and they had to hold me down hard while the Dark Lord was burning the Mark into my flesh. All the time he was making fun of me for 'crying like a baby' like he was saying. I thought I would lose my mind completely because of the pain, as he was pronouncing spells of the darkest sort and encasing them into the Mark."

"At one point, the pain was so intense that I felt nauseous and started to wish with all my heart he would kill me right there and then so that the searing pain would stop. I finally passed out from it. When I woke up, I was all alone in that room. I was unable to move or speak for hours after that."

"I still can't go to the parlour to this day without shaking badly and feeling my stomach churning. I avoid it at all costs. It holds too many bad memories." Draco realised the boy wasn't caressing his hand anymore, so he paused and opened his eyes slowly.

Harry was looking at him, silent tears running down his cheeks. Draco had never seen Harry cry before. He didn't even think it was something possible. The boy was always so brave and strong! He removed Harry's glasses and put them down on the bench. He took him in his arms, and hugged him hard, holding him in tight while Harry sobbed quietly on his shoulder.

"God, I'm so sorry, Draco…"

"Sshhh, that's okay, Harry, it's all over now, it's all in the past… like you said, we need to look forward, now…" he gently murmured, caressing Harry's hair tenderly.

"God, Draco, how terrifying it must have been for you…" Harry said, breaking the hug and wiping the tears from his face.

"It was. I was absolutely terrified. I realised that all the things I had been clinging to, all I had been told about, all the beliefs I had been holding were just one big joke. I wanted so bad to be regarded as a tough guy, to be envied by other people, but I realised then how utterly wrong I had been, and how this wasn't a game at all. It was dangerous. The guy was a madman. He made me do things that I will never ever forget… He made me-" he couldn't continue.

"I know, Draco, I saw what he made you do…"

"You… you know?" Draco was completely taken aback.

"Yes… I… we had this connection," Harry explained, "and I could sometimes feel what he felt, when he was really angry, or happy. My mind would settle in his head and I would live things through his eyes. I saw… I saw how he forced you to torture Rowle…"

"Merlin…" Draco whimpered as he remembered how terrified he had been that day, thinking about his parents constantly because he knew that if he wasn't doing it, they would be killed mercilessly and he would be next. He had had to run to the bathroom to throw up violently afterwards and still regularly had nightmares about it all.

"That's okay, Draco, that's fine, I'm here now…" Harry was comforting him again, cradling him in his arms, and Draco felt tears running down his cheeks again.

"God Draco... I wish I had helped you! When we had that… that fight in the bathroom during sixth year… You were crying when I found you… I should have tried to talk to you then, but I was so angry about what you had done to Katie..."

Draco pulled away a little and stared at Harry, an expression of utter disbelief on his face. "Harry, you're fucking unbelievable! You're apologising for not helping me when I had made my own choices, and _you_ saved everyone else by confronting him, by _dying_ for every single one of us? Are you out of your fucking mind, Harry?" He looked at this incredibly selfless boy, who wasn't even aware of the importance of what he had done. Draco felt even more ashamed at his own cowardice and reckless behaviour.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, Harry, for everything, for hurting you, for mocking you, for being such an arse to you while you were being so incredibly selfless and brave and I was just plain stupid-"

He couldn't finish his sentence since Harry kissed him hard again, and he drowned in that kiss, their tongues swirling around one another in a crazy dance, and they held tight, Draco cupping Harry's head to prevent him from going away, Harry's hands on his back, encircling him in his strong arms, and Draco didn't want it to stop, didn't want to lose what they had, the strong bond that was now linking them, as he had poured his soul to him like he never had before, telling things to the boy he had never even told his own mother, and God, he knew at that precise moment, that what they had was right, and beautiful, and that he didn't want it to ever stop.


	13. Body and soul

**Chapter 13 – Body and soul**

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**A/N: This is the (very) edited version of chapter 13. If you are of age and wish to read the whole, unedited version of the chapter as it was originally written, please see links to AO3 or Live Journal in my profile!**

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The Christmas spirit was very much in the air at Hogwarts. With only a few days left before the holidays, the excitement of the upcoming end-of-the-year festivities was in full swing. The traditional twelve Christmas trees had been installed in the Great Hall the week before, and every single corner of the castle had been decorated abundantly, in an attempt to hide the scars the castle was still sporting seven months after the war. The glow of the everlasting candles added an eerie look to the ensemble.

It felt good to be able to fully enjoy the holiday spirit without fear of imminent death, thought Harry, a smile on his face, as he tried to read a paragraph from his Potions book for the third time. He had been literally dragged into the library by Hermione, with the tacit complicity of Ron who didn't dare contradict his girlfriend much those days.

He was very much looking forward to spending Christmas at the Burrow with the Weasleys. He loved feeling he was part of this incredible family, after having spent years as a child celebrating Christmas on his own in his cupboard under the stairs, while the Dursleys were feasting on turkey and Brussels sprouts. True, this year it would be different, since it would be the very first Christmas without Fred. However, he was sure the Weasleys would do their best to convey the Christmas spirit to the household. He felt a pinch at the thought that he would never officially be a part of the family anymore, but he felt confident that the Weasleys would always leave their door open to him, even after learning about his break-up with Ginny and his newly discovered sexual orientation, as he didn't plan on hiding it. It would probably be slightly awkward to be around Ginny, but their last interactions had been friendly, so he wasn't really worried about that.

There was only one thing that prevented him from being totally thrilled at the thought of being away from the castle for the holidays: he would miss Draco terribly. He tried not to think about it too much, because whenever he did, it made him incredibly unhappy. Two weeks, in such a young relationship, was a really long time to spend apart and even though he knew the blond had feelings for him, especially after the confessions he had made in the locker room the other day, he wasn't completely sure they would be able to reconnect and get what they had back after the holidays.

As a coincidence, Draco chose that exact moment to make his entrance in the library, followed by his fellow Slytherin friends, Blaise and Pansy. Harry tried hard not to stare too much at his well, boyfriend, but couldn't help throwing him a glance above his book. Draco noticed him as well and nodded at him briefly, an imperceptible smile on his lips.

Ron looked up from his parchment at the same time and followed his gaze with interest. After checking Hermione wasn't looking, he rolled his eyes ostensibly at Harry. The two friends had not yet had the chance to talk about Harry's relationship with Draco since he had come out to Ron a couple of weeks ago. Harry knew that Ron still felt rather uncomfortable about it all, and the fact that he didn't even want to acknowledge it whenever they were alone together was probably a way for him to pretend it simply wasn't happening.

Harry didn't resent Ron for it. He felt immensely grateful for his friend to have accepted his relationship with Draco with as little outrage as he had shown. That meant a lot to him, and even though Harry would have liked to share some parts of it with his best friend, he knew Ron needed time and he respected that.

Hermione interrupted his train of thoughts. "Could you pass me the book right next to you, Harry please?" she said in a very business-like tone.

"Sure," he replied, reaching for the book. He handed it to her, but she wasn't paying attention to him anymore. Harry followed her gaze. She was looking at Draco, like she was suddenly remembering something.

"Did you know that Malfoy was gay?" she blurted, finally taking the book from Harry's hand. Ron nearly choked on his own tongue and Hermione frowned slightly at her boyfriend's odd reaction. Harry felt a deep blush starting in his neck and creeping up his face alarmingly fast. Fortunately, Hermione had her eyes on the blond again.

"How… how do you know?" he swallowed hard and managed to say after a moment.

"Well, I overheard Zabini and Nott talk about it the other day outside of the common room. Apparently, Nott and Malfoy had been together for a while but Malfoy broke up with him recently." Hermione looked back at them and frowned. "Well, you don't really look surprised, you two. Did you know about it?" she looked at them slightly puzzled. "Ron?"

"I… well, don't look at me, Hermione," Ron made a dismissing gesture and turned to Harry. "Harry? Maybe you should… you know…" Shit. As usual, Ron was as subtle as a flying brick.

The frown on Hermione's face increased, forming a deep cleft between her eyebrows.

"Harry?"

Ideally, he would have liked to tell her when there were only the two of them, at a time and place he would have chosen, but he had been too chicken to spill the beans whenever he had had the opportunity. God, how he wished he had done it now! But it was too late. The whole thing had lasted long enough already. He had been dating Draco for a while now, and she was his best friend after all.

He sent a quick look at Draco who had taken a seat with his companions further away in the library and sighed heavily. At that moment, Harry wanted nothing but to go and find comfort in his boyfriend's arms.

"Yes," he stated. "I know he's gay."

She looked at the two of them, slightly annoyed. "Well, that's nice! Thank you for sharing the information with me!" she pouted, opening the book Harry had handed her and starting skimming through the table of contents.

Harry felt something kick him hard under the table and looked at Ron with a questioning look. He silently mouthed a "what the…?" to which Ron responded by tilting his head in the direction of Hermione.

"Are you two nearly done, yet?" Hermione said quietly, her eyes still on her book.

Ron looked at Harry and threw a sideway glance at his girlfriend, tilting his head towards her again. Shit. Ron was urging him to tell Hermione. He knew deep inside his best friend was right, that he should tell her, but he couldn't find it in him to do it just yet. He raised both his hands in a dismissing gesture.

"Right, what is going on here?" Hermione slapped her book shut and looked at them, slightly annoyed.

Harry never had the time to answer the question.

"Harry has something he would very much like to tell you," Ron blurted boldly, blushing slightly.

Harry sent him a murderous look.

Hermione looked at Ron with a slight frown and turned to Harry. "What is it, Harry?" she seemed to ponder something. "Does it have anything to do with Malfoy being gay?" she finally asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Well, yes, it… as a matter of fact, it does," he paused, looking at Ron insistently, but the ginger was avoiding his eyes like the plague. God, he was going to kill him!

Hermione looked at Harry with a strange expression on her face, and finally said, "Right, tell me."

"Okay," he took a deep breath. "At the beginning of the year, I… I stumbled on Malfoy and Nott snogging in the common room." Hermione raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Harry started fidgeting nervously so Hermione put a hand on his. "Please, Harry," she said softly.

He calmed down a little and went on. "At the time, it was a total surprise to me, but it kind of triggered something in… in me and made me realise that I probably was… like them," he said sheepishly, fixing an old stain on the table. There was an awkward silence.

"Finally, Harry!"

He looked up, a puzzled expression on his face. A huge grin was forming on her face.

"Excuse me?" he said, slightly taken aback by her unexpected answer.

"God, I've been waiting for weeks for you to tell me!" she said again, smiling tenderly at him.

"Wait, you… you knew?"

"That you're gay? Well, I _suspected_ it, I didn't know for sure, but, yes, I felt you might be."

Harry couldn't find anything to say. This clever young woman, his best friend, had worked it all out for weeks, and hadn't said anything. Shit.

After a while, he asked her about it. "Why didn't you tell me then, if you knew?"

She looked again deep in his eyes. "Well, because, I thought you would tell me eventually, whenever you felt ready for it. I didn't want to force you into saying it, and I knew you probably needed time to come to terms with it all anyway," she shrugged.

"I… don't know what to say, Hermione, I… it's been… complicated for me, and, God, I should have told you earlier!" he felt suddenly ashamed at not having felt strong enough to confide in his best friends.

"Well, why didn't you?" she said softly, squeezing his hand.

"I… I was scared you would think badly of me," he almost whispered.

"Harry, how could you think that? I told you, remember? In the empty classroom? I told you I would always love you, no matter what, I meant it!" she added in a soft voice.

Ron stepped in at that point. Harry had almost forgotten he was there in the first place and jumped a little at the sound of his friend's voice.

"Er, Harry, I think you have something else to tell Hermione…"

Hermione looked at him again. At that point, Harry was pretty sure she already knew what he was about to tell her.

"No, you're right, there is something else," he said. "But I think you've already figured it out…"

"I want to hear it from you, Harry, please," she held his hand tight.

"Okay. After I discovered I was attracted to… well, boys, I soon realised that there was one boy in particular that I was kind of… crushing on…"

"_Malfoy_…" she whispered, releasing the grip on his hand and turning to look at Draco who was totally oblivious to the scene that was happening only a few feet away from him. He was deeply focused on his parchment and books.

"Yes…" Harry murmured almost imperceptibly.

Hermione seemed to ponder something. After a while, she finally said. "Is Malfoy… Are you two together, then?"

Harry nodded slowly.

She leaned back in her chair and muttered, "You're in a relationship with _Draco Malfoy_…" as if she needed to say it out loud to make it true.

Harry and Ron remained silent, exchanging glances.

Her eyes finally left Draco and went back to Harry's. "How long have you been with the… with him?"

"A month and a half."

"Sweet Merlin!" she exclaimed. "But... how on earth did something like that happen?"

"Well, remember that time when you asked Draco to come and talk to me in my room?" Harry said.

"Oh no, we didn't," she turned to Ron, bringing her hand to her mouth. "We literally sent him in his arms," Hermione said weakly, looking at Ron again.

"I always thought it was a bad idea..." Ron muttered.

"Well, at the time it had seemed like a good idea," she quipped "And what about you? You were very welcome to come up with something better!" she added dryly.

"Hey stop fighting, you two! Nothing happened then, relax!" He certainly didn't want his two friends arguing over him.

Hermione looked at Ron for a moment before turning to Harry again. "Right, sorry, Harry." She paused. "I remember that day, you know? You looked very upset, Harry, and we couldn't get to you, you wouldn't let us. And then I remembered how…" she seemed to be looking for the right word, "_weird_ you had been behaving around Malfoy in Charms so I thought that maybe he could help you with whatever you were going through. Although I didn't know at the time that… Oh God, that was it…" she murmured. "You were upset because you had figured out your attraction to him and you didn't know how to deal with it!" she was gaping at him now.

"Well, yeah… something like that…" Harry trailed off. He didn't want to tell them it was only part of the problem, the other one being that he had just blurted Draco's name while Ginny was kissing him…

"Right, anyway," Hermione went on, "I didn't think about that at the time, no. I just thought that maybe it had to do with Malfoy not wanting to be taken for granted for what had happened during the war, to be given a chance to clean the slate and start afresh, just like you wanted people to treat you as if nothing special had happened… I thought that that's what you would have in common, not-" she paused. "Anyway, that's why I thought about getting him to talk to you."

"Well, it helped, Hermione, it really did! Maybe not in the way that you thought it would, but at least it helped me see that Draco was maybe... different from what we saw, because he is, when you get the chance to know him, he really is! He's funny, and interesting, and smart," _not to mention incredibly hot,_ Harry kept to himself. "And he keeps me grounded. He's never bought the hero-worshipping bullshit I get to deal with on a daily basis," he added with a shy smile.

"Right, okay. I- forgive me Harry, but I think I- I think I need time to come to terms with the… um, situation… it's one thing to suspect something is going on and another to have confirmation it really is happening," she looked at him with a fragile smile. "I'll be honest with you, Harry. I don't really like it, for one thing, you know what I think about him. Seven years of mutual... disliking, to say the least, won't be erased overnight, but… I'm glad you finally told me though," she added.

"Thank you. I understand. You have no idea what that means to me," Harry said softly.

"Are you... happy with him?" Hermione asked him.

Harry looked at them both. He felt once again so grateful for his two best friends to go over their own feelings to listen to him, to let him talk freely about what was happening to him, without judging his choices, but willing to understand as much as they could.

"I am," he finally answered, a huge grin on his face. "I'm thoroughly happy, God, you have no idea how happy I am! It's everything I had been waiting for, and more. It really is awesome, being..., you know..." and with these words, he looked at his boyfriend and smiled again, blushing slightly.

"Yeah, I think we know what you mean," Ron replied with a smile, leaning to place a kiss on Hermione's cheek.

"Right, this is all very well, boys, but being in love and all that shouldn't prevent us from studying for our N.E.W.T.s!" Harry and Ron exchanged an amused look. "So, better keep our heads screwed on and go back to work!" she opened the book again, before adding. "And don't even think of rolling your eyes as soon as I won't be looking at the two of you anymore," she added with a sly smile, "I know you!" The two boys laughed heartily, and hurried back to work as Madam Pince was walking dangerously closer.

* * *

_Oh God, I never want this to stop!_ Harry was thinking, as he lay on Draco's bed, back arched, eyes rolled up in his head, the blond resting on top of him, stroking him all over his body.

Harry was thoroughly enjoying Draco's worshipping of his body, his own hands caressing the soft skin of Draco's back, completely abandoned in his embrace. Their encounters had increased in intensity over the last few days and things were now rapidly heating up in the blond's bedroom: a simple touch on a particularly sensitive area brought what they were doing to a more serious level, and soon, Draco's strokes became more frantic.

The blond crushed his mouth hard on Harry's and took him in a heated kiss, allowing their tongues to swirl wildly around one another's, in perfect sync with the movements of their bodies. Harry let out a whimper at the now familiar feeling and rapidly got lost in the kiss. He closed his eyes and wrapped his legs around Draco's body, bringing him even closer and revelling in his lover's touch, craving to get more. More touch, more contact and more of Draco everywhere.

That was when it hit Harry. That was when he realised he literally meant it. He really did want more of Draco. He had been thinking about going all the way with his boyfriend for a while now, trying to imagine what it truly meant to be with another boy in that way. The whole idea was terribly scary but also strangely exciting at the same time, and it sent a jolt of arousal straight to his groin.

"God, Draco..." he broke the kiss and said, panting heavily, "More Draco... oh, please!"

"_Harry_..." Draco murmured, now buried deep in Harry's neck.

"Draco, I... I want to..."he said quickly before he could take the words back. "I'm ready... I... I want you..." he stammered.

Draco jerked his head up so quickly that Harry was afraid he would crack his neck.

"What?" he said in a breath, stopping dead in his tracks and searching Harry's eyes.

"I'm ready." Harry repeated more confidently this time. Draco looked at him intently. "I want to... make love with you..." Harry said, smiling nervously.

All the sexual tension that had been there a minute ago was instantly replaced by an eerie silence. Draco raised an eyebrow and considered Harry for a while. "You... you're sure about it?" he said softly, removing a strand of hair from Harry's eyes. "Because we don't have to... you know, rush things... I can still... wait, you know..."

"Yeah, I know, but I... I really want to... Draco, please," Harry said again softly, stroking Draco's cheek gently.

A wicked smile slowly formed on Draco's lips. "Well, no need to plead, Potter, you know perfectly well that I'd love to-"

"Then do it," Harry said bluntly, sounding more assured than he really was.

Draco considered him for a moment, then slowly replied, "Okay..." and then took Harry's mouth in a long, slow kiss. Harry instantly relaxed into it, but soon tensed again as a thought just crossed his mind.

"Wait..." he blurted, breaking the kiss abruptly, putting his hand on Draco's chest. "How do we... I mean, how do you... who's going to-"

"Top?" Harry nodded, biting his lower lip slightly. Draco looked at him for a while, as if choosing his words carefully. "Well... I don't usually bottom..." he stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh... okay," Harry swallowed hard and managed to say after a while. He felt something akin to panic rise from his toes, and spreading rapidly to the rest of his body. Oh God. If Draco was going to top, then that meant that... he knew what sex between men implied, but would he be able to do it? On the other hand, he didn't feel completely at ease with the idea to top either, being mainly afraid of hurting his boyfriend.

He felt Draco's fingers gently stroking his cheek as the blond eventually broke the silence. "I can always... I mean... I'd understand if you found it too much for a first time so, I can..." Draco trailed off.

Harry took a deep breath and looked again into Draco's eyes. To be completely honest, he was a bit worried at the idea of doing something like that, but it was also strangely exciting, something new that he realised he really wanted to try. And he wanted to do it with Draco, _because_ it was Draco, and nobody else. He also wanted to show the blond how much he loved him, how much he cared about him, how much the boy meant to him, and abandoning himself like that to him, joining their bodies and souls together, was his way of expressing all the feelings he had developed for the blond over the last few weeks. Like he had told Draco, he was ready. He felt a thrill running through his spine at the thought that he was about to lose his virginity to a man.

"No, that's okay, I'll do it. I'll bottom."

* * *

Draco almost choked on his tongue and thought for a second he had not heard him properly.

"You... you'd do that?" he whispered, _for me?_ he added in his head, completely bewildered at what Harry had just told him, a flow of strong emotions racing across his body.

Harry nodded.

Draco felt completely overwhelmed by the gesture. The boy had no idea what something like that meant to him. Sure, Harry wasn't the first one to give him his virginity. Draco had been Theo's first boyfriend as well, but it had been completely different. With Theo, Draco had had to talk the boy into doing it, to convince him it was a good idea, and it had taken a lot of persuasion, and a little bit of cunning on Draco's side to get there. Now, things were completely different.

That boy, that stupid Gryffindor boy, was going to willingly do something like that with Draco for his first time? Draco shivered slightly at the thought of his own first sexual encounter. He had been fifteen, completely foolish and stupid enough to let himself be manipulated by the other man who had known perfectly well how to act around a gullible young man to get what he wanted. The experience had been terrible and incredibly painful, and Draco had sworn to himself that he would never bottom again. And he had kept that promise.

He looked at Harry and, choosing his words carefully, finally said, "Right, I'll go very slowly. If there is anything, and I mean _anything_ you don't like, or don't feel comfortable with, just tell me and I'll stop instantly, okay? I mean it, Harry," he added seriously, his voice slightly shaking with emotion.

Harry nodded again. "I will, Draco, I trust you," once again, those simple words warmed his insides.

Draco looked at Harry like he was discovering him completely, and took him in another long kiss, delving his tongue inside his mouth, savouring the boy's taste, before breaking the kiss and looking into his eyes. He then slowly started to work his way down, trying to recapture the atmosphere that had been in the room earlier on.

After a while, Draco lifted his head and looked up at him. "Ready?" he softly said.

Harry propped himself on his elbows and nodded his assent.

"I'm going to take it slow, don't worry, Harry," Draco murmured, before gently kissing him again. He then positioned himself between Harry's legs, going very slowly. He took his time, pausing whenever he felt Harry tense.

Draco then leant forward and kissed him full on the lips, his forearms resting on either side of the boy's head, never leaving his eyes. They started making love, slowly, tenderly, and it simply was incredible. Draco's mouth was on Harry's the whole time, and he was placing delicate kisses against the boy's lips, murmuring sweet words of love and comfort. It was the most erotic experience he had ever felt.

Harry was fucking beautiful, completely abandoned into his arms like that, and Draco couldn't help wondering how on earth he could have hated the boy so much during all those years. The boy then wrapped his legs around Draco, his hands running all over his back, clinging to him, and pressing their mouths together hungrily again and Draco didn't want to wonder about anything at all anymore.

He felt an unexpected rush of love for this incredibly brave boy. Yes, _love. _As sappy as it sounded, that was what it was, love, threaded with many more things like care, intimacy, and understanding, because what they were doing now was way beyond sex, it wasn't something they were doing simply because they craved physical release, it was so much more than that! Those were real, deep feelings. They were literally _making love_, craving constant contact with the other, revelling on the skin to skin sensations it provided, and it overwhelmed Draco completely, so completely in fact, that without realising it, four little words escaped his lips.

"I love you, Harry" he said in a barely audible voice, but Harry had heard them, and was holding him tighter now, and whispering in his ear, "I love you too, Draco," and Draco closed his eyes again, feeling perfectly at home in Harry's arms.

Once it was all over, they remained like that for a while, panting slightly, sweat cooling on their bodies, limbs tangled together, and hands ghosting over still sensitive skin. They slowly drifted off to sleep in each other's arms, feeling sated and knowing that things would definitely never be the same again between them.

* * *

**A/N: Reviews welcomed! I answer to all of them (well, unless you have disabled the PM feature) :)**


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